A Clearing in the Wild

Title: A CLEARING IN THE WILD
Author Jane Kirkpatrick
Publisher: WaterBrook Press
April 2006
ISBN: 1-57856-734-3
Genre: Inspirational/historical

Emma Wagner is tired of the constraints of the religious colony she lives in. Women are supposed to be quiet and serve in submission and they have no say. A thinker, Emma resents the limitations placed on her. However, any form of dissent is discouraged, so Emma often finds herself irritating the colony’s leader, Wilhelm Keil.

When Emma and her husband Christian arer sent along with eight other families to scout out a new location in the northwest, Christian thinks he has found the perfect location in the Washington territory, but when Keil arrives, he chooses to move the group to Oregon instead.

Emma hopes that Christian will break away from the group, and she tries to encourage him to do so. Will Christian give in to Emma’s pleas, or will she be forced to obey her husband and Keil and move to Oregon?

Based on a true story, the entire Change and Cherish series, starting with A CLEARING IN THE WILD is a fascinating look at history, and at a religious cult that existed in 1850. Ms. Kirkpatrick weaves in a lot of historical facts, and the style of writing is as though Emma herself is telling the story.

A CLEARING IN THE WILD is not really a gripping story, but it is instead a story to be savored, slowly, and not read through in a day. The reader suffers right along with Emma, and at the end of the book, looks forward to the next installment… This book—and series—will stay with the reader for a long time. I read the books out of order, but I highly recommend that they be read in the right order as you will get the biggest impact from the series that way, instead of starting out lost and trying to figure out what has happened in prior books. $13.99. 365 pages.