This historical fiction is a carefully researched blend of historical events using real people. The story is about Jennie Pickett and her struggle to become a doctor in the 1870’s Oregon. 

This tale is an amazing journey in a time where women physicians were shun by society. For Jennie to become a doctor she had to surmount imaginable obstacles: her dyslexia and a difficult husband and son. She first learned homeopathic treatments with herbs and oil and practiced her art at every occasion with passion. After her divorce from her husband, she met her second husband, a wonderful man who gave her all the encouragement and the push needed to become a doctor. We follow her life through a bad marriage and a good marriage.

This story is told in a smooth narrative one that easily pulled me in from the first chapter. I wanted Jennie to succeed and have a wonderful life. She is portrayed as a strong and determined person regardless of her disabilities and the tragedies in her life. We have a lot of surprises along the way to keep us flipping the pages. 

This is a captivating story of over-coming tragedy and poor choices, personal and family challenges and never losing hope. It is also a story of love. Beautifully written this novel is hard not to like.

“All She Left Behind” is based on a true story

I received this ARC from the publisher Revell via the Early Reviewer Program for an honest and unbiased review.

The Memory Weaver is a work of historic fiction based on the life of Eliza Spalding Warren. In it, Eliza tells us of her life starting at age fourteen when she was first approached by Mr. Warren, as she continues to call her husband even after marriage.   And while this is partly the story of their marriage, it is primarily the story of how past traumatic events affect Eliza as she struggles to deal with the difficult men in her life and the hardships found in the Oregon Territory of the mid to late 1800s.

At age ten, Eliza had been held as a hostage in the aftermath of what is sometimes called the Whitman Massacre.  Memories of events before, during and after the massacre are incorporated throughout the novel as are entries from her mother’s journal.

This is a gently paced novel, giving time for the explorations of memory and Eliza’s gradual journey toward coming to terms with her memories. It is a story of how memories can hold us back, how they can be altered by time and perception, and how they can also (as the author wrote when signing my copy) “nourish and transform.”

I will definitely be reading more by Jane Kirkpatrick in the future.  

An expanded review can be found on my WordPress based blog: http://wp.me/p5Tcfi-4M

This review refers to both a purchased paperback copy and a review ebook copy that was read courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.  

Practical photography is said to be born around 1839 when picture taking became able to be done for commercial use.  What a wonderful context for Historical Romance--the life of an early photographer. 

Enjoy these Photographers in Historical Romance Novels. My lists are never in any particular order. 

1. Handpicked Husband (Texas Grooms Book 1) by Winnie Griggs

Can she drive away not one, but three suitors?

Free-spirited photographer Regina Nash is ready to try. But unless she marries one of the gentlemen her grandfather has sent for her inspection, she'll lose custody of her nephew. So she must persuade them—and Adam Barr, her grandfather's envoy—that she'd make a thoroughly unsuitable wife.

Adam isn't convinced. Regina might be unconventional, but she has wit, spirit and warmth. His job was to make sure Regina chose from the men he escorted to Texas—not to marry her himself! Can they overcome the secrets in her past, and the shadows in his, to find a perfect future together?

2. Colorado Dawn (A Runaway Brides Novel Book 2) by Kaki Warner

After only three letters and one visit during her six-year marriage to a Scottish cavalry officer, Maddie Wallace decides to build a new life for herself by accepting an assignment from a London periodical to photograph the American West. Then Angus Wallace returns home unexpectedly after a military injury to find his wife gone, and to discover he’s in line to an earldom. His mission to find Maddie takes him to Heartbreak Creek, Colorado where his biggest challenge awaits: convincing his headstrong wife to return home as his viscountess.

Now Maddie must decide between the glorious Colorado mountains or the glittering ballrooms of London, and between the man she has loved and the dreams she wants so desperately to fulfill.

3. Painted by the Sun by Elizabeth Grayson

A Woman On A Desperate Quest
Working as a traveling photographer, Shea Waterston is following the path of the orphan trains west, searching for the son she was forced to give up ten years before. She pays for her search any way she can, including setting up her camera to photograph a hanging. When that lands her in Judge Gallimore's jail, Shea never dreams that soon after, she'll have the chance to save the judge's life.
A Man With A Terrible Secret
Colorado Territorial Judge Cameron Gallimore is a strong, just man who damned himself years before with one fateful decision. Only this mysterious stranger from Denver truly touches the empty hidden places in his heart.  Then, with nothing more than a chance photograph and the haunting familiarity in a young boy's smile, they both find the past catching up with them.  But will its secrets drive them into each other's arms?  Or out of each other's life forever...

4. A Flickering Light: Portraits of the Heart, Book 1 by Jane Kirkpatrick

Returning to her Midwest roots, award-winning author Jane Kirkpatrick draws a page from her grandmother's photo album to capture the interplay between shadow and light, temptation and faith that marks a woman's pursuit of her dreams.

She took exquisite photographs,
but her heart was the true image exposed.

Fifteen-year-old Jessie Ann Gaebele loves nothing more than capturing a gorgeous Minnesota landscape when the sunlight casts its most mesmerizing shadows. So when F.J. Bauer hires her in 1907 to assist in his studio and darkroom, her dreams for a career in photography appear to find root in reality.

With the infamous hazards of the explosive powder used for lighting and the toxic darkroom chemicals, photography is considered a man' s profession. Yet Jessie shows remarkable talent in both the artistry and business of running a studio. She proves less skillful, however, at managing her growing attraction to the very married Mr. Bauer.

This luminous coming-of-age tale deftly exposes the intricate shadows that play across every dream worth pursuing–and the irresistible light that beckons the dreamer on.

5. A Vision of Lucy (A Rocky Creek Romance Book 3)  by Margaret Brownley

6. A Light on the Veranda by Ciji Ware

In this wonderful sequel to Midnight on Julia Street (1999), Daphne Duvallon leaves her native New Orleans for New York City after abandoning her philandering fiance at the altar in front of 500 guests. Now her brother, King, wants her to come back south for his wedding in Natchez. A talented Julliard-trained harpist, Daphne will do anything for her brother, even if it means losing her job with an up-and-coming orchestra, and the trip truly becomes a life-altering experience when she meets Sim Hopkins, a nature photographer who has the potential to be the right man in her life if she can learn to trust again. Both are cautious, and for good reason, as the distant past impacts their future, cued by the music of a mysterious harp. This ghostly instrument opens a gateway to a sequence of tragic events beginning in the late 1790s and ending, finally, with the death of a previous Daphne Duvallon. A thoroughly engaging romance in its own right. Patty Engelmann Copyright © American Library Association. 

7. Second Sight (Arcane Society Book 1) by Amanda Quick

Photographer Venetia Milton is a spinster by Victorian standards. Economically strapped, she's also the sole support of her aunt and younger siblings. Things start to look up when she is chosen to photograph a collection of artifacts belonging to the Arcane Society, a 200-year-old clandestine organization founded by an alchemist. The collection is housed in an isolated gothic mansion, and Venetia finds herself there in the company of handsome and mysterious Gabriel Jones. Deciding that it's now or never for love, Venetia seduces him, only to lose the man of her dreams in a fire set by a nefarious enemy. Venetia resourcefully moves on, opening a portrait shop and assuming the persona of Gabriel's grieving widow. The talented Mrs. Jones becomes the toast of London, a surprising turnaround, but not nearly as astonishing as Gabriel's reappearance, and the danger she finds herself in. Quick's latest is a clever and entertaining tale about secrets, from a secret society to secret powers to a secret theft. Quick also slips in serious observations about the status of women, debunking the all-too-common assumption that feminism isn't alive and well in the romance genre. With her witty dialogue, multidimensional characters complete with eccentricities and psychic abilities, clever plotting, and generous humor, the perennially popular Quick has penned another surefire winner. Shelley Mosley Copyright © American Library Association.

8. Fool's Gold by Zana Bell

Love – is it worth its weight in gold?

It’s 1866 and the gold rush is on. Left to fend for herself in the wilds of New Zealand’s west coast, Lady Guinevere Stanhope is determined to do whatever it takes to rescue her ancestral home and restore her father’s good name.

Forced out of his native Ireland, Quinn O’Donnell dreams of striking gold. His fiercely held prejudices make him loath to help any English person, let alone a lady as haughty and obstinate as Guinevere. But when a flash flood hits, Quinn is compelled to rescue her, and their paths become entwined in this uncharted new world.

Though a most inconvenient attraction forms between them, both remain determined to pursue their dreams, whatever the cost.

Will they realise in time that all that glitters is not gold?

9. A Bride's Portrait of Dodge City, Kansas (Brides & Weddings) by Erica Vetsch

Hoping to leave the shadows of her shady yesteryears behind, Adeline Reid is focusing on her photography career. But when her ex-boyfriend’s compatriot in crime shows up in Dodge City her entire past is threatened by exposure. Can Addie keep her secrets while helping to catch a killer? Deputy Miles Carr’s investigation into a shopkeeper’s murder leads him to Addie’s door. Will his attraction to this female photographer keep him from catching the true culprit? Or will Addie lead him off course in more ways than one?

10. Miss Fontenot: Heroines of the Golden West, Book 3  by Stephen Bly

Stephen Bly's Heroines of the Golden West, which includes Sweet Carolina and The Marquesa, is a dramatic series set in the Old West. With Miss Fontenot, listeners will enjoy another visit to the growing town of Cantrell, Montana, and its colorful residents. Oliole Fontenot has moved to Cantrell from New York City to set up her own photography studio. When she is commissioned to do a series on women in the West, she realizes that this is the chance she needs to establish her reputation as an artist. But a handsome rancher begins to capture her heart, and she must reevaluate what she wants. Is God being too bountiful with his blessings? Praying for guidance, Oliole finds herself asking questions about vanity, humility, and freedom. Through Linda Stephens' narration, the young woman's meditations become a dramatic testimony to divine direction and love.

To vote for the best of the Historical Romance Photographers, go to my Goodreads list: Daguerreotype: Photographers in Historical Romance Novels. 

I love to know your favorites!

Letitia was the first African American to travel the Oregon Trail in 1845.  She faced her greatest hope and biggest fear in the risk of a new territory with different laws on slavery.

Her husband, Davey Carson, is a red bearded, Irish immigrant - albeit a marriage in name only as most everyone viewed their relationship as employer/employee with Davey getting a bed warming companion.  Marriages like theirs were not recognized legally.   

Her dearest friend, Nancy Hawkins-Read accepts her completely and changes her view of herself. “She wished she could find the words to tell this woman what her life had meant to her, how her faith and absolute acceptance of Letitia’s being had oozed strength into Letitia’s soul. ‘You are the tree that a sapling looks up to.’ ”  Letitia is a career midwife and brought a fair amount of Nancy’s 11 children into this world.

Letitia is a hard worker and friend to Betsy and Little Shoot, Kalapuya Indians who have lived on their land in the Oregon Territory.  Her many friends are her support while Davey is in California chasing gold.

Hardship is part of her life, but mixed in is the joy of her daughter, Martha, and son, Adam, the first mulattos born on the Oregon Trail. Letitia paved a new road for African Americans coming after her in a precedent setting lawsuit against a prejudiced, slave patroller, G. B. Smith, who has been a thorn in her side since Missouri.  And she won — twice. 

She does actually face a fear she’s had since the very beginning.  As everything is being auctioned off, Letitia’s stance is: “I’s free to decide how this day gets remembered.  I say I let light shine inside me, keep the dark memories out.”  

Light in the Wilderness is based on historical facts which are documented in the back by Jane Kirkpatrick.  I love historical fiction and this is a terrific book in that category.

I received a complimentary book from The Book Club Network at bookfun.org in exchange for my honest review.