Bücher der Reihe Tender Ties Historical

Based on the life of Marie Dorion, the first mother to cross the Rocky Mountains and remain in the Northwest, A Name of Her Own is the fictionalized adventure account of a real woman's fight to settle in a new landscape, survive in a nation at war, protect her sons and raise them well and, despite an abusive, alcoholic husband, keep her marriage together. With two rambunctious young sons to raise, Marie Dorion refuses to be left behind in St. Louis when her husband heads West with the Wilson Hunt Astoria expedition of 1811. Faced with hostile landscapes, an untried expedition leader, and her volatile husband, Marie finds that the daring act she hoped would bind her family together may in the end tear them apart. On the journey, Marie meets up with the famous Lewis and Clark interpreter, Sacagawea. Both are Indian women married to mixed-blood men of French Canadian and Indian descent, both are pregnant, both traveled with expeditions led by white men, and both are raising sons in a white world. Together, the women forge a friendship that will strengthen and uphold Marie long after they part, even as she faces the greatest crisis of her life, and as she fights for her family's very survival with the courage and gritty determination that can only be fueled by a mother's love.

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.