Kirkpatrick's tale of moving to a remote, nearly inaccessible patch of raw Oregon desert along the John Day River, intent on creating a self-sufficient farmstead, is either a triumph of faith over common sense or a head-scratching decision that sounds romantic on first telling but quickly devolves into a saga of brutally difficult effort.

Imbued throughout with the couple's firm commitment to their Christian faith and to the belief that Divine Providence will guide them on the appropriate path, they sell their home in central Oregon and move to the unimproved property, which has no electricity, potable water, or telephone service, and which is can be reached only by air or via a treacherous hillside roller-coaster path generously called a road.

Kirkpatrick and her husband are neither flower children nor tenderfeet. They go into the venture with carefully made plans -- improbable, but carefully made -- and a clear understanding of what it will take to reach their goals. Most readers will end up shaking their heads in amazement that anyone -- particularly a couple in which one partner has significant physical disabilities -- would tackle such a brutally difficult project with so little guarantee of eventual success.

Along the way, Kirkpatrick seques from administrative work with the Warm Springs Indian Reservation to full-time writing, with a specialty in the fictionalized lives of early women pioneers in the area. She and her husband battle climate, wildfire, family upheaval, rattlesnakes, flood, wind, and isolation with a persistance that at borders at times on mania. They also become part of a ranching and farming community that shares their devotion to the land, providing friendship and support.

She gets extra ploints from this reader because of the locale. It helps if the reader is familiar with the area, and it's always a thrill to recognize a place name, a family name, or an event with which one is directly acquainted.

Beyond that, the book is neither a how-to manual nor a fish-out-of-water comedy. There's humor here, and heartbreak, and an honest representation of what it takes to create and sustain a self-sufficient haven on an inhospitable piece of land. Whether the reward is worth the effort is a decision each reader will have to make on their own. ( )

I was introduced to the writings of Jane Kirkpatrick through her fiction; I gobbled them up. Her descriptions and her words spoke to me. Her storytelling showed how God worked in peoples lives in impossible situations. Men, women, and children: Indian and Settlers spoke to a time past, yet there is timelessness to their stories. But what I didn’t know was that these novels came later, after her memoir Homestead. After reading it, it made sense that she wrote her fiction with such understanding and certainty; because she has walked this walk of faith into the unknown. If you are embarking on a journey of your own, or a big change looms ahead then read Homestead. 5 stars. ( )