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Authors: Jane Kirkpatrick
Where Lilacs Still Bloom
Where Lilacs Still Bloom
“When reading any of Ms. Kirkpatrick’s books, I become engaged, almost instantly, on many levels at once.
Where Lilacs Still Bloom
is simultaneously a strong and gentle read of beautiful, spare language. It wooed and won me to Hulda’s story even as it coaxed me to look at my own life as well. Who am I staking up? Do I tend to my husband and my children as well as to my calling? The sweet message that lingers long after the book is closed is the promised truth of sowing and reaping, in gardens, and in life.”
—S
ANDRA
B
YRD
, author of
To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn
“Jane Kirkpatrick reimagines the true story of a nature-loving wife and mother who studied Luther Burbank and devoted herself to breeding new and improved varieties of lilacs. Families suffer, thrive, and evolve as new flowers emerge in a gentle tale as sweet as its fragrant garden.”
—J
ANE
S. S
MITH
, author of
In Praise of Chickens
and
The Garden of Invention
“
Where Lilacs Still Bloom
is a charming, delightful story of Hulda Klager’s courage and perseverance on many levels, her gentle defiance of convention, her triumph over natural and personal disasters, and her desire to be sure her work is truly God’s will. Neither the author’s nor Hulda’s use of botanical research ever overpowers Hulda’s story but makes plain for readers her patience and ruthless care in her quest for the blooms she envisions.”
—C
AROL
B
UCHANAN
, author of
Wordsworth’s Gardens
and winner of the 2009 Spur for
God’s Thunderbolt: The Vigilantes of Montana
“Having worked with the history of the Thiel and Klager families for over six years now as a board member, I was excited to read how Jane gave the family members such character. I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Hulda and Frank and the way Jane portrayed the youngest daughter, Martha. I loved reading
Where Lilacs Still Bloom
and visualizing what it must have been like to live in that old house when Hulda and her family lived and gathered there.”
—J
UDY
C
ARD
, genealogist and Woodland, Washington, historian
“Extraordinary book. Jane skillfully drops the reader into Hulda Klager’s loving, hardworking pioneer life. She chronicles Hulda’s family and botanical triumphs and struggles. Thank you for this magical story.”
—R
EBECCA
W. R
OBERTS
, secretary of Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens
NOVELS
The Daughter’s Walk
*
Portraits of the Heart Historical Series
A Flickering Light
*
An Absence So Great
*
Change and Cherish Historical Series
A Clearing in the Wild
*
A Tendering in the Storm
*
A Mending at the Edge
A Land of Sheltered Promise
*
Tender Ties Historical Series
A Name of Her Own
*
Every Fixed Star
Hold Tight the Thread
Kinship and Courage Historical Series
All Together in One Place
*
No Eye Can See
What Once We Loved
NONFICTION
A Simple Gift of Comfort
Homestead: A Memoir of Modern Pioneers
Pursuing the Edge of Possibility
Aurora: An American Experience in
Quilt, Community, and Craft
*
*
finalist and award-winning work
W
HERE
L
ILACS
S
TILL
B
LOOM
P
UBLISHED BY
W
ATER
B
ROOK
P
RESS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
Scripture quotations are taken or paraphrased from the King James Version and the New American Standard Bible®. © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. (
www.Lockman.org
).
This book is a work of historical fiction based closely on real people and real events. Details that cannot be historically verified are purely products of the author’s imagination.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens of Woodland, Washington, for the use of the photograph on
this page
. Used by permission.
Copyright © 2012 by Jane Kirkpatrick
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.
W
ATER
B
ROOK
and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kirkpatrick, Jane, 1946–
Where lilacs still bloom : a novel / Jane Kirkpatrick. — First edition.
p. cm
eISBN: 978-0-307-72942-2
1. Klager, Hulda, 1863–1960—Fiction. 2. Housewives—Fiction. 3. Immigrant families—Fiction. 4. Plant hybridization—Fiction. 5. Lilacs—Fiction. 6. Woodland (Wash.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3561.I712W53 2012b
813′54—dc23
2012002016
v3.1
To Jerry, who at eighty began a new garden with me
.
C
AST OF
C
HARACTERS
Hulda Klager—wife, mother, gardener
Frank Klager—dairyman in Woodland, Washington; Hulda’s husband
Klager children—Elizabeth (Lizzie), Idehlia (Delia, Della), Martha, Fred (Fritz)
Klager grandchildren—Delia’s children: Irvina, Clara, Fred; Lizzie’s children: William, Roland
Amelia and Solomon Strong—Hulda’s sister and brother-in-law
Bertha and Carl Tesch—Hulda’s older sister and brother-in-law (also Frank Klager’s best friend)
Emil and Matilda (Tillie) Thiel—Hulda’s brother and sister-in-law who lived next-door
Thiel children—Albert, Elma, and Hazel
Bobby—Klager dogs
Dr. Alice Chapman—family doctor in Woodland, Washington
Dr. Carl Hoffman—local family practitioner in Woodland, Washington, and surrounding areas
Laura Hetzer—lecturer, Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture for Women
*
Nelia Lawson—a garden helper, formerly of Mississippi
*
Jasmine—Nelia’s nanny
*
Ruth Reed—a garden helper
*
Barney Reed—Ruth’s father
*
Cornelia Givens—a reporter
*
Shelly and William Snyder—botanists from Maryland
*
a fictional composite of people in Hulda’s life
Hulda (left) in her garden with visitors.