The Memory Weaver by Jane Kirkpatrick

Synopsis:
Eliza Spalding Warren was just a child when she was taken hostage by the Cayuse Indians during a massacre in 1847. Now the young mother of two children, Eliza faces a different kind of dislocation; her impulsive husband wants them to make a new start in another territory, which will mean leaving her beloved home and her departed mother's grave--and returning to the land of her captivity. Eliza longs to know how her mother, an early missionary to the Nez Perce Indians, dealt with the challenges of life with a sometimes difficult husband and with her daughter's captivity.

When Eliza is finally given her mother's diary, she is stunned to find that her own memories are not necessarily the whole story of what happened. Can she lay the dark past to rest and move on? Or will her childhood memories always hold her hostage?

Based on true events, The Memory Weaver is New York Times bestselling author Jane Kirkpatrick's latest literary journey into the past, where threads of western landscapes, family, and faith weave a tapestry of hope inside every pioneering woman's heart. Readers will find themselves swept up in this emotional story of the memories that entangle us and the healing that awaits us when we bravely unravel the threads of the past

Review: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Pacific Northwest history has always been a subject that I am passionate about. This book is based on Eliza Spalding-Warren. Her father traveled from the East coast to what is now Walla Walla Washington with the Whitmans to start a mission. Eliza was a small child and survived the Whitman massacre. This story is how that affected her life. Holding strong to her faith, she struggles through life as a mother and a wife. Her husband, Andrew Warren, moves them from Brownsville, Oregon to  Touchet, WA. This moves drudges up a lot of stuff for Eliza (Touchet isn't far from the Whitman site). With the help of a family friend, Eliza learns that the past isn't how she remembered it. Timothy also helps her learn that she needs to forgive her self and leave the past in the past. After her visit to the Whitman site, she is empowered. She feels that she is a better wife, a better mother, and no longer hangs on to the past that haunted her for so long.

Eliza Spalding was the first white child to be born in the Pacific Northwest. Her family, along with the Whitmans, were some of the first white settlers in the Washington territory.