A Light in the Wilderness

Back Cover

Letitia holds nothing more dear than the papers that prove she is no longer a slave.  They may not cause most white folks to treat her like a human being, but at least they show she is free.  She trusts in those words she cannot read—as she is beginning to trust in Davey Carson, an Irish immigrant cattleman who wants her to come west with him.

Nancy Hawkins is loathe to leave her settled life for the treacherous journey by wagon train, but she is so deeply in love with her husband and she knows she will follow him anywhere—even when the trek exacts a terrible cost.

Betsy is a Kalapuya Indian, the last remnant of a once proud tribe in the Willamette Valley in Oregon territory.  She spends her time trying to impart the wisdom and ways of her people to her grandson.  But she will soon have another person to care for.

As season turns to season, suspicion turns to friendship, and fear turns to courage, three spirited women will discover what it means to be truly free in a land that makes promises it cannot fulfill.  This multilayered story from bestselling author Jane Kirkpatrick will grip your heart and mind as you travel on the dusty and dangerous Oregon Trail into the boundless American West.  Based on a true story.

Review

In reading A Light in the Wilderness, I was awestruck by how incredibly brave women like Letitia, Nancy, and Betsy were.  Letitia for facing down daily racism and prejudice; Nancy, for giving up the home she loves for the unknown; and Betsy, for also facing prejudice and being forced to move from her own home.  Stories like these inspire people to overcome their own personal obstacles and move forward, even while their knees are shaking a little in fear.  Courage doesn’t mean fear is absent – it is making that decision to move in spite of the fear.  And we don’t have to face that fear alone!  God, who is ever faithful, promises to never leave us or forsake us.  What a beautiful promise! 

Wonderfully written, A Light in the Wilderness is a story readers will not easily forget.

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.