The Author-Reader Match is a fun “dating-style” profile to introduce readers to authors and their books. Instead of trying to find your perfect match on a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Jane Kirkpatrick!
Writes:
Historical novels based on the lives of actual women (and the men in their lives, too). With the Enduring Tides celebrates Mary Gerritse: poet, first mail carrier on the rugged Oregon Coast in the 1890s, and devoted wife, mother of four, daughter, and friend. A loss and a challenge begin Mary’s journey to discover where she came from and to whom she belongs.
About:
Jane is a storyteller who moved from a mental health career to homesteading to becoming a writer. She’s a character-driven author who delves into genealogy, visits the sites of her stories, interviews descendants, and loves bringing real people to life on the page. She’s won numerous awards (the Wrangler, Will Rogers, WILLA, and Carol among others) and has been a CBA and New York Times bestseller. Jane writes from her Central Oregon home and sometimes—to escape the snow—from her southern California desert place in a funky, historical community founded by Bing Crosby. She just can’t get away from history! Jane’s background in homesteading, living remotely for 27 years, working for a confederation of Indian Tribes, and her mental health career lend authentic layers to her writing about the West. “Biography shows what someone did and when; fiction asks why did they do that, and how might they have felt?” Jane helped found Women Writing the West, an organization celebrating stories of women and girls in the West, and in 2024 received the Will Rogers Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to Western Literature.
What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match:
• A reader who likes characters to cheer for even as they mess up while seeking meaning in their lives
• Someone who loves resilient female characters set in the West of the early 1900s—and the men they love who aren’t cowed by strong women
• Readers who relish accurate history through story, discovering tidbits like how Oregon beaches served as highways and pioneers had stronger connections to San Francisco than to inland towns
• Curious minds wondering why the series is called The Women of Cannon Beach. What’s with the cannons, anyway?
• A reader willing to see how I weave threads of landscape (oceans and coastal mountains), relationships (Remittance Men—yes, that was a thing—Indigenous influences on pioneering folk, mothers and daughters, adoption uncertainties), spirituality (characters discovering who they belong to and how faith brings direction), and work (parenting, healing, logging, postal carrying, picking hops) to fill in the historical gaps
• Someone who sees character challenges and translates their journeys into their own lives
• A reader who enjoys quirky characters and some laughs
• Someone who has an attachment to their pets and knows the comfort they bring and the grief when they’re gone
• A closet poet, perhaps, who likes discovering characters through the poetry they write
What to expect if we’re compatible:
• A feel-good weaving of Northwest history and hope
• Fascinating secondary characters, each with desires of their own
• Page-turning emotional connections that make you stay up late to read just one more chapter (and long for book three!) and leave you wanting to know more about the characters after the book ends (often possible through an internet search!)
• The unveiling of mysteries for both characters and readers
• Author notes separating fact from fiction (some fans read this section first!)
• Stories informed by personal history with homesteading, caregiving, parenting, and counseling
• The sharing of personal stories of challenge and loss and how family, friends, and faith help us move through them
WITH THE ENDURING TIDES (Book 2 in the Women of Cannon Beach Series) finds Mary Gerritse as a would-be matchmaker for her and her husband’s British friend, Herbert Logan. Early on, she makes a crucial error in judgment about the sea, bringing great loss to her life. Adding to her family challenges, daughter Belle wants to live with her grandparents, and Mary discovers that her father has hired a caregiver (who has a small child) to help with Mary’s mother, who is struggling with mental health issues. Mary wants them to come live with her family on the coast, but her father resists. What happens next spirals Mary toward discoveries that lead her to wonder where she came from, who she belongs to, and where God is in her life. Meanwhile, readers uncover where the Nehalem-Clatsop woman, Jewell, has been (on her own journey of discovery) and are introduced to Henrietta, an elderly widow raising a grandson. Mary’s mother’s caregiver becomes an important thread in Mary’s ultimate decision: should she give up postal carrying for the betterment of her family? And maybe even abandon her desire to live once and for all on Cannon Beach?
WITH THE ENDURING TIDES by Jane Kirkpatrick
Inspirational Pioneer Historical Women’s Fiction Set in 20th Century Pacific Northwest America
On the rugged Oregon coast in the early 1900s, a group of women’s lives intertwine through their shared pioneering spirit and the steadfast presence of Mary Gerritse. Struggling with her daughter Belle’s desire to live with her grandparents, Mary discovers her own mother facing illness and her father hiring a caretaker with a troubled past. Despite tensions, Mary leaves Belle with her grandparents, feeling guilt and resentment. When past secrets bubble over into troubles in the present, Mary’s identity is shaken.
As Mary seeks to heal her family—and herself—her friends provide comfort even as they face challenges of their own: Jewell explores questions about her own identity, Henrietta navigates managing a homestead, Virginia seeks refuge from an abusive situation, and Olivia faces the heartache of lost love. The women must endure to find encouragement in each other and refuge in the faith that brings strength amid great uncertainty.
Beloved for her immersive depictions of the American West in the early twentieth century, Kirkpatrick vividly portrays the courage and triumphs of women overcoming the odds and banding together to make a difference.
Women’s Fiction Historical | Women’s Fiction Friendship [ Baker Publishing Group, On Sale: April 21, 2026, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781493452750 / eISBN: 9780800746100 ]
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About Jane Kirkpatrick
A New York Times Bestselling author, Jane Kirkpatrick’s works have appeared in more than 50 national publications including The Oregonian, Private Pilot and Daily Guideposts. With more than 1.5 million books in print, her 30 novels and non-fiction titles draw readers from all ages and genders. Most are historical novels based on the lives of actual historical women often about ordinary women who lived extraordinary lives. Her works have won numerous national awards including the WILLA Literary Award, the Carol Award, USABestBooks.com, Will Roger’s Medallion Award and in 1996, her first novel, A Sweetness to the Soul, won the prestigious Wrangler Award from the Western Heritage and National Cowboy Museum. Her novels have also been finalists for the Spur Award, the Oregon Book Award, the Christy, Reader’s Choice and the WILLA in both fiction and non-fiction. Several titles have been Literary Guild and Book of the Month choices and been on the bestsellers list for independent bookstores across the country, in the Pacific Northwest and the Christian Booksellers Association. Her books have been translated into German, Dutch, Finnish, and Chinese.
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