A Mending at the Edge

"Of all the things I left in Willapa, hope is what I missed the most." So begins this story of one woman's restoration from personal grief to the meaning of community. Based on the life of German-American Emma Wagner Giesy, the only woman sent to the Oregon Territory in the 1850s to help found a communal society, award-winning author Jane Kirkpatrick shows how landscape, relationships, spirituality and artistry poignantly reflect a woman's desire to weave a unique and meaningful legacy from the threads of an ordinary life. While set in the historical past, it's a story for our own time answering the question:Can threads of an isolated life weave a legacy of purpose in community?

An international keynote speaker, Jane Kirkpatrick’s two nonfiction books and fourteen novels, including All Together in One Place, BookSense 76 Bestseller A Name of Her Own and Oregon’s Literary 100, A Sweetness to the Soul, blend her clinical social work with her Oregon ranching life and love of history. Her works earn regional and national literary merit including the coveted Wrangler Award from the Western Heritage Center and National Cowboy Hall of Fame. She lives on Starvation Lane with her husband of 31 years, Jerry; and with two dogs and a goat. www.jkbooks.com