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Northwest Passages: Jane Kirkpatrick
Author Jane Kirkpatrick joins us to talk about fictionalizing history, life on her Starvation Point ranch, and her newest book, A Flickering Light. The novel is based on the life of her grandmother, a woman whose passion for photography led her to challenge the professional and personal expectations of her era. From the book:
Aginst the morning darkness, Jessie Ann Gaebele quietly lit the stubby candle. Its feeble light flickered at the mirror while she dressed. She pulled her stockings on, donned her chemise, debated about a corset, decided against it. She’d make too much noise getting it hooked. No one was likely to see her this morning anyway, and she’d be back before her mother even knew she’d left the house without it. She could move faster without a “Grecian Bend,” as ladies magazines called the posture forced by the stays and bustle. She guessed some thought it an attractive look for a girl in 1907, emphasizing a small waist and a rounded derrière. Jessie claimed both but had little time for either that morning, and timing mattered if she was to succeed. If Jessie didn’t catch the moment, it wouldn’t be for lack of trying.
Kirkpatrick writes novels, memoir, and non-fiction. She grew up in the Midwest, where her newest book is set. But much of her work tells the stories of women in the pioneer West, including Emma Wagner Giesy, founder of the 19th century Christian commune in Aurora, and Cassie Hendrick Stearns Simpson, wife of shipping magnate Louis J. Simpson. That book inspired fan Loris Webb to suggest Kirkpatrick for this series. Listener Annk, an Oregon librarian and a bookseller did too. Thanks all for the lead!
Kirkpatrick's work is categorized as Christian literature. Her books explore themes of inspiration and trace spiritual and personal journeys — including her own after she moved to a rattlesnake-infested ranch along the John Day River. She says Christian readers have told her she doesn't fit the genre, and she's heard from others who say they never would have picked up a book dubbed Christian but found her work another way and enjoyed it. She also says some people tell her they won't read historical fiction because it's not "true." The current issue of the Oregon Historical Quarterly weighs in on that, looking at Kirkpatrick's work specifically.
Have you read any of Jane Kirkpatrick's work? What do you think? Let us know what you liked, or didn't, and post any questions for her here.
Tagged as: author · books · jane kirkpatrick · northwest passages
Photo credit: courtesy Jane Kirkpatrick
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Jane Kirkpatrick is one of our favorite authors to host for book readings. Jane does a wonderful job explaining the historical background of each novel. She did powerpoint presentations for the books "A Flickering Light" and "Aurora". Jane's presentations included photos of the people and communities in each book. I always learn something new at Jane's book readings.
Jenny
Waucoma Bookstore
Hood River, OR -
A truly amazing article. Thanks for sharing you’re wealth of knowledge with us once again
Sodium Metabisulfite
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Jane's getting into interesting territory here: From your own experience, what do photos reveal, perhaps without your wanting them to?
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I've been thinking a lot about these very subjects lately.
My grandmother and her sisters back in Cherokee County, Oklahoma are probably responsible for my survival far past what many might have expected. And my grandmother's inculcation of Baptist Missionary Society values probably had everything to do with my decision to stay in Asia after being military in Vietnam, trying to put right with my cameras what we'd put so wrong with our naive and hubristic foreign policies.
Further, now that I'm digitizing my work the swells of insight are continuous. The old family portraits that have come to me are like telephoto shots into the past, with more than enough soft focus for ambiguity into which I am certain I inject my own realities.
Good stuff.
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I came across Jane Kirkpatrick's books by accident. I purchased my first one - All Together In One Place -- at a garage sale, but I've gone on to purchase & read (devour, actually) all her other books, including Homestead which I've given to as gifts to an aspiring writer (my daughter-in-law) and a dear friend who's "homesteading" in a rugged, out-of-the way corner of southwest Texas.
As a newcomer to Jane's work, I was fortunate to be able to go from one book in the series right into the next. I just finished A Flickering Light and wonder how I'll ever be able to wait until next year for the second book of her grandmother's story.
I share my Jane Kirkpatrick books with friends and family, all except the Tender Ties series which I can't see ever leaving my library. All who read her books agree -- you know it's a good book when you start reading and can't put it down, but along about 3/4 of the way through, you slow down because you don't want the experience to end!
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I just gave my sister a photo album I made on line for her 50th birthday. I gathered photos from family members and sifted through 50 years of photographs of my sister to make her a photo album. The process and final result of a beautiful album of photos made each of us involved in gathering the photos walking down memory lane of our history.
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(I wanted to join the convo this morning, but my account was slow in approving.) Great show! Thanks so much! I really enjoyed it. I'm a freelance editor and had the pleasure of copyediting "A Flickering Light." I absolutely fell in love with it and hope I'll be able to work on the next book as well. Kudos to Jane!
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Thanks so much for your interview with Jane Kirkpatrick. I've always been interested in pioneers. Her books have brought the pioneers alive for me. I can't read them quickly enough, but at the same time as each book ends I continue to think about the characters and want to read more.
Thank you so much, Jane, for your wonderful books.
Diane Freeburg
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I am currently reading "A Gathering of Finches" and loving it. Proabably because I have been to the Shore Acres Gardens several times, and just to know about the actual people who created them made the book more interesting. Jane Kirkpatrick really brings history to life. I look forward to reading her other books.
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I found Jane Kirkpatrick's novel All Together in One Place at a garage sale. Since then, I read the other two books in that series. I enjoy historical fiction, and found her account very interesting. The thing I really didn't like is her overuse of the Christian verbiage throughout her books. I didn't know she was consider a Christian writer, but now I do since I found your site. The recent book I read was A Name of Her Own, about a Native American woman. Knowing the Native religion, which was extremely absent in this book, I was appalled that she wouldn't 'educate' her readers about their culture and instead made all the natives in the book Christians. I took issue with that, and because of that, will no longer read her works. Native cultures should be given more respect than what Ms. Kirkpatrick did in her book. It's one thing to have that sort of thing woven into white culture heroines, quite another to disrespect a race of people and make them so accepting of the Christian faith across the board.
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Jane Kirkpatrick's books are wonderful. She makes the day to day of history come alive. Right now I'm reading Love to Water My Soul and the beginning is set in the Harney County area where I live. The Native American scenes are so vivid, I start thinking these are real people. My question is how she relates so well to the Native Americans in her stories. I know she does extensive research but it is another thing to be able to capture day to day life and conversation. Another question is that I read she consults to Warm Springs Res. What kind of consulting does she do?
Thank you and best of luck to you, Jane.
Marjorie