Book Review: One More River to Cross

Jane Kirkpatrick
Revell, 2019
344 pages

Amazon Description:

In 1844, two years before the Donner Party, the Stevens-Murphy company left Missouri to be the first wagons into California through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Mostly Irish Catholics, the party sought religious freedom and education in the mission-dominated land and enjoyed a safe journey–until October, when a heavy snowstorm forced difficult decisions. The first of many for young Mary Sullivan, newlywed Sarah Montgomery, the widow Ellen Murphy, and her pregnant sister-in-law Maolisa.

When the party separates in three directions, each risks losing those they loved and faces the prospect of learning that adversity can destroy or redefine. Two women and four men go overland around Lake Tahoe, three men stay to guard the heaviest wagons–and the rest of the party, including eight women and seventeen children, huddle in a makeshift cabin at the headwaters of the Yuba River waiting for rescue . . . or their deaths.

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Thanks to Revell for sending me a copy of One More River to Cross to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Let me start by saying this is the first book I’ve read by Jane Kirkpatrick and it will most certainly not be the last. One More River to Cross is a captivating story of hardship, hope, and survival. There is a full and varied cast of characters who each have their own struggles but also share many common ones that bring them together in dire circumstances.

A recurring theme throughout the story is the power of female friendships. This story takes place during a time when women had little say in the futures of their families, but the women in the Stevens-Murphy Party remained steadfast in their faith and the desire to care for their families, making incredible choices and sacrifices to accomplish that shared goal together. It’s frustrating as a modern woman to read some of the limitations that were placed on these ladies, but also encouraging to see the way they worked through those situations to make the best lives they could.

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The author does a fantastic job maintaining a fine balance between desperation and hope. Even as circumstances grow more and more dire, you never feel a sense of despair, only the compulsion to continue reading and rooting for the characters. I finished One More River to Cross over the span of just a couple of days because I couldn’t stop thinking about it when I put it down. I also recommend reading the historical notes at the end of the book. The amount of research that went into this book is truly impressive, and it made the story seem just that much more inspiring.