Product Description

Continuing the Tender Ties Historical Series, Every Fixed Star brings readers more of the dramatic, fictionalized account of Marie Dorion: the real-life woman who was the first mother to cross the Rocky Mountains and remain in the Northwest. In Book Two of the series, Marie learns the value of a tender heart, the faith of distant friends, and the act of holding life’s circumstances in open hands.

Following the family tragedy, the great battle for survival, and the test of faith described in A Name of Her Own, Marie relocates her family to the Pacific Northwest territory’s Okanogan settlement. The year is 1814 and, as is customary of her life out West, Marie faces constant challenges simply to keep her children clothed and fed.

Yet inside each challenge awaits a gift to be unwrapped. Countless times, Marie has proven herself a survivor. Incredibly, she must now endure further realizations of a woman’s fears: an abrupt ending to love, distance from friends, the disappearance of one child, the consequences of another’s poor choices.

Through it all, Marie is tempted to believe that she doesn’t deserve God’s love in the everyday places. When blessings arrive, she struggles to accept them, fearing they will be followed by more difficult challenges. But ultimately, the threads of past friendships and their prayers, a faithful love, and her own service to others all lead her to God’s gift of a full and abundant life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #444118 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-17
• Released on: 2003-06-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Review
"A complex novel with strong characterization and an authentic Native American voice."
?Romantic Times, Four-Star Review -- Review

From the Inside Flap
Continuing the Tender Ties Historical Series, Every Fixed Star brings readers more of the dramatic, fictionalized account of Marie Dorion: the real-life woman who was the first mother to cross the Rocky Mountains and remain in the Northwest. In Book Two of the series, Marie learns the value of a tender heart, the faith of distant friends, and the act of holding life?s circumstances in open hands.

Following the family tragedy, the great battle for survival, and the test of faith described in A Name of Her Own, Marie relocates her family to the Pacific Northwest territory?s Okanogan settlement. The year is 1814 and, as is customary of her life out West, Marie faces constant challenges simply to keep her children clothed and fed.

Yet inside each challenge awaits a gift to be unwrapped. Countless times, Marie has proven herself a survivor. Incredibly, she must now endure further realizations of a woman?s fears: an abrupt ending to love, distance from friends, the disappearance of one child, the consequences of another?s poor choices.

Through it all, Marie is tempted to believe that she doesn?t deserve God?s love in the everyday places. When blessings arrive, she struggles to accept them, fearing they will be followed by more difficult challenges. But ultimately, the threads of past friendships and their prayers, a faithful love, and her own service to others all lead her to God?s gift of a full and abundant life.

From the Back Cover
"A complex novel with strong characterization and an authentic Native American voice."
–Romantic Times, Four-Star Review

Customer Reviews

An admirable woman, a remarkable story
Jane Kirkpatrick has a way of turning a phrase that is almost poetic,
lyrical in its beauty. The result is stories that are immensely
evocative and visceral. I can't explain it, but it carried me along like a canoe on a smooth-flowing Oregon river as I devoured the first two of Kirkpatrick's "Tender Ties" series, "A Name of Her Own" and "Every Fixed Star" (Multnomah).

One doesn't have to be avidly interested in the early pioneers of the Old West to become emotionally involved in this based-on-real-life story of Marie Dorion. Marie was a contemporary and perhaps even a friend of Sacagawea, the Indian woman who helped guide Lewis and Clark.

As the series begins, Marie, a young Ioway Indian woman, is married to Pierre, a hard-drinking mixed-blood man who is an interpreter for the Wilson Hunt Astoria expedition of 1811. Marie refuses to be left behind with her two small sons, Jean Baptiste and Paul. As the expedition makes its westward way through incredible hardships, we come to deeply appreciate and admire Marie's strength and courage along with her tenderness and vulnerability.

While intimately involving us in Marie's life, as well as that of her family and her fellow travelers, Jane Kirkpatrick paints a fair and balanced portrait of the conquering of the western part of our nation. It's a complicated mix of courage, greed, injustice and bravery-and Kirkpatrick's gifted pen brings it to vivid life.

As the second book, Every Fixed Star, begins, Marie and her sons have already faced and survived a tragic ordeal, and Marie is on the brink of finding love again. Marie can't bring herself to trust the joyful times, fearing the bad times that she expects will follow. Still, we see her being drawn inexorably closer to the Provident God that her former mother and mother-in-law told her about in her youth-the God who has given every fixed star a name, and loves each soul individually.

As I read A Name of Her Own and Every Fixed Star, I found myself marveling both at the character and courage of the people who formed the backbone of our country in its early days, and at the talent of the author who has made it so real in these books. I can't wait to read the next book in this remarkable trilogy.

4 1/2 Stars...A Colorful Tapestry
In the first Tender Ties historical novel, I was moved by the story of Marie Dorion, a Native American woman who earns respect from men and white folk alike while traveling to the unexplored Pacific Northwest. She faces tragedy and triumph, and Kirkpatrick's graceful writing underscores Marie's emotions with a no-nonsense approach. Every detail is researched, every nuance believable.

In "Every Fixed Star," once again we find Marie struggling with tragedy. Her sons are increasingly withdrawn, and, when she finds new love, it too leads to sorrow. Marie's guilt and questions in the face of her sons' anger is heartwrenching and true to character. Marie is a woman searching for her life's calling, her "metier" (in French). She finds herself taking blame for things, then questioning God's hand in certain events. Her wrestling is something with which we can all relate.

Kirkpatrick's storytelling separates the tender ties of life and weaves them together into a colorful tapestry. She allows the dark and the bright cords to twine together, her words contrasting heaviness and joy. Although the decades worth of Marie's life made it more difficult for me to connect than in the first book, I pulled with her all the way, and am left wondering what will happen in the finale. Some questions simple must be answered. If you read it, you'll know what I'm talking about. This is one tapestry you'll want to wrap yourself in.

Marie is haunted by a past filled with mistakes
Every Fixed Star by Jane Kirkpatrick is an historical novel based upon the life of Marie Dorion, who was the first mother to cross the Rocky Mountains. Marie is haunted by a past filled with mistakes and she struggles with more than just the physical stresses and dangers of early pioneer life in the Northwest. Marie believes she is undeserving of a rich, good life -- until she makes a life-changing discovery. A technically flawless recording, Every Fixed Star is very ably narrated by Barbara Rosenblat. Highly recommended listening, Every Fixed Star is also available in a CD format.