A Clearing in the Wild

In my opinion, this is Jane's best book since All Together In One Place. Its value is not so much in its historical perspective, although the history is very interesting. The value is in the way it addresses the challenges of life, especially for women. This book takes on the struggle of being an individual and at the same time being part of a community and the necessity of collaboration with give and take. The third important element overall is faith. This is so relevant in today's world at every level from small groups of people to the global economy! There is a need to have a voice and be who we are, and yet sharing and caring and community are essential for our survival. Ultimately, it is necessary to be able to just have faith. Balancing these seemingly opposing forces is what life is all about! I also am impressed at the way Jane addressed the issue of domestic violence. Nice going, Jane. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Jane Kirkpatrick is an unexpected treasure; like finding an Armani suit at Goodwill on 50% off Saturday! Her literary style makes you want to savor each word, chewing on each nuance while her stories demand that you gobble them up and enjoy. Based on a true story, A CLEARING IN THE WILD is the first book in her latest trilogy. In it she explores not only the vast country between Bethel, Missouri and Willapa Bay, Washington but also the hearts, minds and spirits of those pioneers who braved the unknown to find a safe haven for themselves and their families where they could live independently while practicing their faith. A CLEARING IN THE WILD tells the story of how an entire community of German Christian believers formed a community in which they could live together based on the Biblical concepts found in the book of Acts. They worked together for the common good, shared what they had and made decisions based on God's word. They reached out to others, taking them into the fold and worked to follow not only the Golden Rule but the Diamond Rule which directs us to help others to live even better than we do. When rumblings of the conflicts between the North and the South began to reach them, their leader Wilhelm Keil, proposed that scouts travel west to find a place where the community could escape being drawn into the war that was inevitable. Emma Wagner is a young woman who represents the aspects of the human spirit that spark both progress and failure, independence and rebellion. It is that spark that cannot be smothered by Utopian concepts that require everyone to be equal. I am convinced that such a peaceful, harmonious ideal cannot be achieved anywhere but in Heaven itself. But here on earth we have people like Emma, who love God and their fellows, yet will strive for what they want, for the chance to be heard, for the right to stand out. Emma marries Christian Giesy who is 20 years her senior but the love they had for each other was true and ageless. It was a love that carried them across the country on horseback at a time when threats and dangers accompanied them every difficult mile of the way. Their conflicts and reconciliations formed a strong foundation upon which an entire community was eventually built; a community where women not only worked along side their husbands but were heard and valued as well. If you haven't read Jane Kirkpatrick this would be a wonderful place to get acquainted with a great writer who makes history come alive and allows you to participate in a life we've only imagined.

Set in the 1850s and based upon true events through the tiny community of Bethel Missouri and its people, A Clearing In The Wild by novelist Jane Kirkpatrick is the engaging story of Emma Wagner. As the young Emma becomes less and less restrained by social barriers in an evocative tale of a young woman standing up for her individualism against the social, cultural, and religiously based strictures imposed upon women of the era. Jane Kirkpatrick's epic novel is characterized by memorable characters embedded in an original and engaging plot that rivets the readers total attention from beginning to end. A Clearing In The Wild is a welcome acquisition for any community library, and will result in readers seeking out Jane Kirkpatrick's many previous novels including A Land Of Sheltered Promise (1578567335), and her three volume "Tender Ties" series from WaterBrook Press.

Jane Kirkpatrick is one of historical faith fiction's best literary prose-masters, and this first installment in a new series, A CLEARING IN THE WILD, is a welcome invitation to explore the settling of the west. This is more than a historical tale, however. Based on her research into a true story, Kirkpatrick opens up to the reader endless questions about gender roles, the values and pitfalls of community, the dangers of power and problems of blind allegiances, the troubling balance between following the courage of one's convictions and selfishness, and the riddle of how a good God can be resolved with personal tragedy and suffering. In the 1850s in Bethel, Missouri, a Christian community seeks to live in harmony with each other yet separate from worldly things. Through first-person narrative, we discover that young 17-year-old Emma Wagner of the community is in love and ready to tie the knot with Christian Giesy, 20 years her senior and only a year younger than her father. The leader of the religious colony, Father Keil, is against the match, and his word is usually law among the group. But Emma's strong will prevails. Emma chafes against conformity and longs to express her individuality. Her dress is plain, yet she sews a double row of ruffles into her crinoline where no one but herself and her husband can see them. (Says her new husband, who loves her independence even as it troubles him, "It's a good thing to do, when you feel overcome by the rules.") She discovers that Christian has wanderlust, and in the way of all newly married women must readjust her thoughts of her beloved. "That momentary insight changed the way I looked at him, altered how I thought he saw our marriage too. Like a woman riding on a pillion behind her husband, we traveled the same road but arrived at our destination with very different views. We had different hopes, it seemed, save that we each said out loud we wished a family." By resorting to shading the truth, Emma wangles a spot with the Bethel Scout's exploration of the west to the coasts of Oregon and Washington. They hope to relocate the community further from the perils of too-close civilization, finding a "place of separation" as they had once done by moving from Pennsylvania to Missouri. What Emma hasn't told her husband or anyone else is that she's pregnant. Kirkpatrick immerses her readers into the rich details of the religious colony of this period, from strudels to Schellenbaums (a Turkish bell tree) to German proverbs ("Begin to weave/God provides the thread.") The colony seeks to follow "The Diamond Rule" --- better than even the golden rule in that colonists are asked "to be in service, to treat others as we wished to be treated, and to go beyond, to help others live even better than we did." Good words for reflection. There are snippets of wisdom interwoven throughout the story that also prompt deeper thought, as when Emma's little son Andy keeps running toward a trench. ("I wondered why it is we a

The story--based on actual people and events--centers around Emma Wagner, a young woman who is part of the Bethel colony, a close-knit religious community ruled by a charismatic and autocratic leader, Dr. Wilhelm Kiel. Spirited, outgoing and opinionated, Emma has trouble buckling under in a community that scarcely allows women to speak, much less contribute an opinion. When one of the main men in the colony falls in love with her, conflict inevitably arises between Emma and Kiel, the leader. And then, Kiel decides to send Emma's husband on a trip to Oregon, and the conflict really begins! The Bethel colony is fascinating becauses of its paradoxes (a ruffle on a woman's petticoat is a sin, but the colony makes and sells whiskey...severe plainness in home decorating is a must, but the colony has a brass band and enjoys dancing parties complete with beer-drinking), and the arbitrary and heavy-handed leadership of its leader. We come to care deeply about Emma, who comes across not only as feisty and outspoken, but refreshing and courageous. As always, Jane Kirkpatrick breathes life into a small portion of history, through meticulous research and beautiful writing. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.