Moses Lake author Jan Thacker's second novel coming soon

MOSES LAKE — Once you enter through the red door into a world of wonder, into the theatre of the mind that is Moses Lake author Jan Thacker’s realm, you’ll find tales of triumph where hope overrides despair, where humor supersedes all and God’s plan doesn’t seem quite so mysterious.

Her latest novel, “Journey to the Bone Tree,” is available on Amazon.com or at the Red Door Cafe where she and her daughter run both the cafe and the shop. “Journey to the Bone Tree” is the story of two best friends who create an imaginary world where they dream and play. They pass secret messages in a jagged-edged hollow tree, the Bone Tree, in the small town of Danford, Mont.

Even when tragedy strikes and two families are pulled into the depths of despair, Thacker’s wit and humor surface to prove that life is a journey, not a destination and that all things lead back to faith.

“A lot of writers will have it all plotted out — this chapter is going to go here and the next chapter is going to go there. I don’t do that, I just write,” said Thacker, whose latest work was published by Christian Faith Publishing. “‘Journey to the Bone Tree’ talks about grief when one of the characters drowns. It’s the story about how the families dealt with the tragedy, how the town comes together in its grief.”

It’s not as grim and heavy as you might expect, she said. There is a good dose of humor and her personal insight into family, having daughters and 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Throw in the escapades of a comical dog named Midas and the story almost tells itself.

In an ironic twist of fate, not long after she finished writing the book her son Scott was killed in an accidental death.

“It was as if God had already walked me through the whole grieving process with the writing of this book,” she said. “I was really able to help my family deal with Scott’s death. We’ll miss him forever, but this book really helped my family when we needed it.”

Thacker is a longtime Alaskan journalist and columnist, who moved to Moses Lake six years ago. She is a fourth-generation Whitefish, Mont. native. She has actually lived at the North Pole: North Pole, Alaska, that is. She and her husband Troy spent eight years living in the Alaskan bush before moving to the Columbia Basin.

Her first work, “Widows of Danford,” was published by Bridge-Logos Inc. in 2011. Thacker already has her third novel completed and two more in the works, she said.

“My next one is called ‘Montana Legacy,’ which is just a working title. It took a lot of research because it takes into account the Blackfoot Indian history. I had to do a lot of research on the people,” Thacker said. “That one is done. I just don’t want to have two coming out at the same time. The next one I’m working on is called the ‘Bruising House,’ which is about a woman that marries this man that’s incredibly abusive. At one point, he throws her down in the cellar.

“In order to get a feel for what that would be like, I crawled into the crawl space at our house in Alaska and spent a few hours in the total dark so I would know what that was like.”

The thing she likes about writing is the diverse feelings and emotions in her creations, injecting bits and pieces of what she knows into a world where she can transform into whatever she wants.

Look for her books, “Journey to the Bone Tree,” and “Widows of Danford” at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com. “Journey to the Bone Tree” will soon be available at the Red Door Cafe in Moses Lake.

Rodney Harwood can be reached at 509-765-4561 ext. 111 or businessag@columbiabasinherald.com.