Jane Kirkpatricks latest....Everything She Didn't Say a Compelling Story

...from the publisher...  

In 1911, Carrie Strahorn wrote a memoir entitled Fifteen Thousand Miles by Stage, which shared some of the most exciting events of 25 years of traveling and shaping the American West with her husband, Robert Strahorn, a railroad promoter, investor, and writer. That is all fact. Everything She Didn't Say imagines Carrie nearly ten years later as she decides to write down what was really on her mind during those adventurous nomadic years.

Certain that her husband will not read it, and in fact that it will only be found after her death, Carrie is finally willing to explore the lessons she learned along the way, including the danger a woman faces of losing herself within a relationship with a strong-willed man and the courage it takes to accept her own God-given worth apart from him. Carrie discovers that wealth doesn't insulate a soul from pain and disappointment, family is essential, pioneering is a challenge, and western landscapes are both demanding and nourishing. Most of all, she discovers that home can be found, even in a rootless life.

With a deft hand, New York Times bestselling author Jane Kirkpatrick draws out the emotions of living--the laughter and pain, the love and loss--to give readers a window not only into the past, but into their own conflicted hearts. Based on a true story.

….my thoughts.....

Everything She Didn't Say by Jane Kirkpatrick is an amazing book.  I just put the book down after spending the day between the covers.  Carrie Adell Strahorn was called the "Queen of the Pioneers" or "Mother of the West" by many and once you read her compelling story you will agree.  

What a life this pioneering woman led.  The book begins on the day she married Robert E Strahorn, and from that day on she literally embarked on a trip that would take her by stage, foot, train, steamer and foot on journeys white women never ventured.  She rode in a cow catcher, scaled a mine, laid on her belly overlooking Yellowstone Falls in the snow.  Her stay in a Wyoming hotel with electricity contrasted with harrowing stage rides amid war with the Bannocks.  I can't imagine living up to those challenges but she was determined to be supportive of her husband in his endeavors as an author who wrote travel pamphlets for the Union Pacific Railroad.  He was always one step ahead of settling down with what she longed for; a home and family.  

What really impressed me about Carrie Strahorn was the depth of her faith and perseverance.  I loved that her travels intersected with my own travels and life in Spokane. It was in Spokane that Robert bought the Pines for Carrie and under the direction of famous architect Kirtland Cutter it was redesigned as she wished.  She felt so at home in Spokane, a feeling she hadn't had since leaving her beloved Caldwell.  

As with all of her historical novels, author Jane Kirkpatrick engages the reader into historical events with wonderful story telling and impeccable research.  I highly recommend this book to the reader who loves historical fiction, especially when it includes how this wonderful west was settled.  Many thanks to Revell Books for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review of this book.