One More River to Cross
About
Adversity can squelch the human spirit . . . or it can help us discover strength we never knew we had.
In 1844, two years before the Donner Party, the Stephens-Murphy-Townsend company leaves Missouri to be the first wagons into California through the Sierra Nevada. They enjoy a safe journey--until October, when a fierce mountain snowstorm forces difficult decisions.
The party separates in three directions. Some go overland around Lake Tahoe. Others stay to guard the heaviest wagons. The rest of the party, including eight women and seventeen children, huddle in a makeshift cabin at the headwaters of the Yuba River awaiting rescue. The months ahead will be long and at times terrifying. But with friendship, family, and enough courage to overcome their fear, these intrepid pioneers will discover what truly matters in times of trial.
"Jane Kirkpatrick has turned a scrap of history into a story of courageous women strong enough to meet the challenges of nature--and of men."--Sandra Dallas, New York Times bestselling author
"What an incredible journey this novel is! It's moving and beautifully told, and I absolutely loved it."--Molly Gloss, award-winning author of The Jump-Off Creek and The Hearts of Horses
Jane Kirkpatrick is the New York Times and CBA bestselling and award-winning author of more than thirty books, with nearly two million copies sold, including Everything She Didn't Say, All She Left Behind, A Light in the Wilderness, The Memory Weaver, This Road We Traveled, and A Sweetness to the Soul, which won the prestigious Wrangler Award from the Western Heritage Center. Her works have won the WILLA Literary Award, the Carol Award for Historical Fiction, and the 2016 Will Rogers Medallion Award among others. Jane lives in Central Oregon with her husband, Jerry. Learn more at www.jkbooks.com.
Endorsements
"Jane Kirkpatrick has turned a scrap of history into a story of courageous women strong enough to meet the challenges of nature--and of men. Starting with a footnote about a group of 1844 pioneers caught in snows of the California Sierra, Kirkpatrick weaves a tale of extraordinary women (oh, and a few men too) who fight blizzards and starvation to save those they love."
Sandra Dallas, New York Times bestselling author
"What an incredible journey this novel is! Without ever trivializing or sentimentalizing the harshness of the circumstances, Kirkpatrick centers her novel on the bonds of community, family, and friendship that sustained these strong, complicated women through a harrowing winter trapped in the Sierra Nevadas. There's not a false note in this book. It's moving and beautifully told, and I absolutely loved it."
Molly Gloss, award-winning author of The Jump-Off Creek and The Hearts of Horses
"I can wholeheartedly recommend the book. Jane gets the facts as right as they can be got out of the stories of the various participants in the experience of the winter of 1844-45 in the Sierra Nevada of California. Anyone can tell you what it was like--dirty and hungry and cold and lonely. Jane puts the heart-pounding, breath-taking, adrenaline-soaked feelings into the thoughts and the mouths of the people who lived the experience as real-time commentary on the events. The thoughts and words may not be exactly what those folks were thinking and feeling, but I believe in my heart they could be."
Stafford Hazelett, editor of Wagons to the Willamette
"Award-winning western writer Jane Kirkpatrick tells the remarkable story of survival of the Murphy-Stephens-Townsend Overland Party of 1845, the first to bring wagons through the Sierra Nevada into California. Unlike the great loss of life suffered by the tragic Donner Party the following year, all fifty members of the party survived, despite harrowing ordeals in mountain snows, often with nothing to eat but tree bark. As with so many of Jane's books, she tells the story of the women who are so often ignored in western histories--giving birth along the trail; enduring their own illnesses to comfort near-starving children; taking charge in emergencies, such as helping rescue a drowning man or a stranded horse; and resisting men who try to shout them down when they insist on being heard. And don't overlook Jane's acknowledgments at the end where she says she hopes this story 'might celebrate the honor of self-sacrifice, the wisdom of working together, and the power of persevering through community and faith.' This wonderful new book accomplishes this, and more."
R. Gregory Nokes, author, former editor for the Oregonian
The Author
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© Rylee Hurtley Jane Kirkpatrick
Jane Kirkpatrick is the New York Times and CBA bestselling and award-winning author of more than 40 books, including Beneath the Bending Skies, A Light in the Wilderness, The Memory Weaver, This Road We Traveled, and A...
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