Hold Tight the Thread
This story is the final installment in a trilogy about the life of Marie Dorion. It was preceded by A Name of Her Own and Every Fixed Star, and each book grows and mellows much as the central character, Marie, also grows and mellows. In this story, which begins in 1841, Marie watches her children become mothers and fathers themselves. When life is difficult for them, Marie reverts to blaming herself and her failure as a mother, despite assurances to the contrary from her loving husband, Jean Louis Toupin. As tensions grow between Americans, British and Indians, all positioning for control in this new territory, Marie and her family learn to let go of their tensions and leave the control in God’s hands.
Jane Kirkpatrick’s meticulous research of Marie Dorion and her family is combined with a deep sense of a mother’s love and the love of a Catholic woman for her Lord. Ms. Kirkpatrick successfully combines the history of the region, the stories of the Dorion family, and the conflict between Catholics and Protestants as well as people loyal to different countries, to write a detailed account of Marie’s life. This book is well worth the read. All three books make an extraordinary tale, and would be most enjoyed if they are read in order.
