0800722329
© 2015 by Jane Kirkpatrick, Inc.
Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
Ebook edition created 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4412-2820-8
Scripture used in this book, whether quoted or paraphrased by the characters, is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
This book is a work of historical fiction based closely on real people and events. Details that cannot be historically verified are purely products of the author’s imagination.
“Storyteller Jane Kirkpatrick puts flesh and blood on the bones of history. In
The Memory Weaver
, she breathes life into the little-known tale of Eliza Spalding, daughter of the famed missionaries, who survives unspeakable horrors to become a woman of love and faith and strength. Set against an authentic nineteenth-century background, this is a superb story of a woman’s struggle to triumph over time and place.
The Memory Weaver
is a memorable book.”
—Sandra Dallas,
New York Times
bestselling author
Praise for
A Light in the Wilderness
“Kirkpatrick gives marvelous insight into the struggle of the freed slave, the adventurous lure of the Oregon Trail with the numerous potentials it promised, and the tremendous amount of faith it took to endure.”
—
CBA Retailers + Resources
“Kirkpatrick exercises her considerable gift for making history come alive in this real-life tale of a freed slave who travels across the country to Oregon Territory in the late 1840s. Kirkpatrick draws an indelible and intriguing portrait of Letitia Carson, an African-American woman who obtains her freedom and then determinedly makes her own way in an unsympathetic society. Letitia is fully imagined, and Kirkpatrick skillfully relates Letitia’s thoughts, cementing a bond of empathy between character and reader. On the whole, Kirkpatrick’s historical homework is thorough, and her realization of a little-known African-American pioneer is persuasive and poignant.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“This heart-stirring new historical novel has romance, mystery, and adventure. Characters are sweet, charming, strong, witty, and looking for their places in the world. One character is loosely based on the true story of the first African-American woman to cross the Oregon Trail to live in freedom. Kirkpatrick has done her research and gives detailed descriptions without overwhelming the reader and the story.”
—
RT Book Reviews
Dedicated to Jerry,
with whom I’ve shared a lifetime of memories
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Endorsements
Dedication
Epigraph
Cast of Characters
Map
Prologue
1. In the Beginning
2. Finding the Center
3. The River’s Edge
4. Secrets
5. Sacrifices
6. Cookstove Wisdom
7. Held Hostage
8. Making Things Work
9. Anxiety Shifting
10. Vows
11. To Make a Bed and Lie in It
12. A Full House
13. Lost and Found
14. Learning the Language of Marriage
15. Stretching through the Darkness
16. Unpredictable
17. The Choice
18. That Which Sustains
19. Changing Plans
20. Heading Backward
21. Leavings
22. Segments of the Past
23. Knitting Lives
24. Picking Up Lost Stitches
25. A Studied Change
26. Grateful I Am
27. New Sight
28. Filling Hollow Places
29. A Gold Ring
30. Like a Second Heart
Epilogue
Author’s Notes and Acknowledgments
Author Interview
Discussion Questions
About the Author
Back Ads
Back Cover
The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant.
Salvador Dali
The past beats inside me like a second heart.
John Danville in
The Sea
Cast of Characters
| Eliza Hart Spalding | the mother, early missionary to the Nimíipuu/Nez Perce People |
| Henry Spalding | husband of Eliza, father of Eliza Spalding Warren |
| Eliza Spalding Warren | the daughter, keeper of her mother’s story |
| Henry Hart Spalding | Eliza the daughter’s brother |
| Martha Jane Spalding | younger sister |
| Amelia “Millie” Spalding | sister and youngest of Spalding siblings |
| Andrew Warren | husband of Eliza |
| America Jane Warren | children of Eliza and Andrew Warren |
| Martha Elizabeth “Lizzie” Warren | |
| Amelia “Minnie” Warren | |
| James Henry Warren | |
| Rachel Jane Smith | Boston teacher and second wife of Henry Spalding |
| Nancy Osborne | Brownsville resident, friend of Eliza |
| Matilda Sager | young friend of Eliza, survivor of Whitman tragedy |
| Lorinda Bewley | young friend, survivor of Whitman tragedy |
| Timothy | early Nimíipuu/Nez Perce convert of Spaldings |
| O’Donnell brothers | drovers with Andrew Warren |
| John Brown | son of owner of Brown and Blakely’s store |
| Bill Wigle | Brownsville businessman |
| Matilda | Nimíipuu/Nez Perce friend of Eliza Spalding, the mother |
| Tashe | Eliza the child’s Nimíipuu horse |
| Nellie | Eliza Spalding’s Brownsville horse |
| Maka | Eliza Spalding Warren’s horse |
| *Yaka | the Warren family dog |
| *Abby | the Warren cattle dog |
| *fully imagined characters |
Prologue
1847
A
LONG
THE
C
LEARWATER
R
IVER
O
REGON
T
ERRITORY
The woman rode sidesaddle, holding the leather reins like long ribbons in her sturdy hand.
“Mama, Mama, wait!”
The woman turned, looked out beneath her bonnet as her daughter ran forward, carrying a late-blooming iris in her nine-year-old hand. The girl’s Nimíipuu horse with freckles across its rump followed behind the child.
“Why, I rode right past it, didn’t I, Eliza?” The woman inhaled the flower’s scent as the child handed the blue iris up to her.
“I notice things.”
“Yes, you do.” It was good to see the child’s smile light up her usually serious face. “But I notice that you are not on Tashe’s back. I dare not dismount from this sidesaddle to help you get back up.”