Talkshow Thursday: Meet Julie McDonald Zander

The Reluctant Pioneer 

by Julie McDonald Zander

Nearly two decades ago, while guiding schoolchildren on a tour of our local museum, I saw a small placard telling about the tragic loss suffered by a mother who crossed the Oregon Trail in 1847. My heart broke, imagining her pain and uncertainty, wondering what she would do. How could she survive?

During a lull between my personal history projects, a career through which I’ve published more than 75 nonfiction books, I decided to find out.

Thus began a five-year journey delving into the life of a pioneer who suffered horrific loss but held steadfastly to her faith in God. Through research at the Washington State Library and Oregon Historical Society, I discovered what the late radio personality Paul Harvey would refer to as “the rest of the story.”

This woman, known throughout the Pacific Northwest and even in Washington City for her gracious hospitality and good cooking, entertained Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens and Generals Ulysses S. Grant, George B. McClelland, and Philip Sheridan.

Through my research, I also learned that all her direct descendants had died out, leaving nobody to share the story of this remarkable woman.

Nobody but me.

When I took early pages to Writers Weekend at the Beach, fellow authors told me I needed to add

dialogue. But this woman died in 1901, so how could I put words into her mouth and call the book nonfiction? My five-year labor of love culminated in October 2019 with the publication of Washington Territory’s Grand Lady: The Story of Matilda (Glover) Koontz Jackson, a 364-page book that was a finalist for the Western Writers of America Spur Award and the Will Rogers Medallion.

But Matilda’s story still niggled at me, and I wanted more people to hear it, so I spent the next five years attending two different critique groups to learn how to write fiction. Based on the factual framework of the nonfiction book, I dove into my character’s mind, traveled with her across the Oregon Trail, and suffered the pain of her losses and joy in her victories as I wrote my debut novel, The Reluctant Pioneer, released in September 2024 by St. Helens Press.

I was honored when the Western Writers of America in March declared the novel a finalist for the 2025 Best Western Historical Fiction Spur Award. Here’s the article about the recognition.

About The Reluctant Pioneer

Matilda Koontz cherishes her life as a wife and mother on a Missouri farm, but her hardworking husband wants to claim free farmland in the Pacific Northwest. When he suggests selling the farm to trek two thousand miles across the Oregon Trail, she balks. But in the spring of 1847, Matilda and Nicholas Koontz and their sons embark on a grueling journey westward. Fresh graves testify to dangers of disease, accidents, starvation, and a multitude of hazards threatening her family and her beloved’s dream. With new struggles at every turn, Matilda wonders how she can protect her sons on such a perilous journey. Will they reach the trail’s end? Will the babe growing inside her womb survive? When tragedy strikes, the question changes: How can she possibly continue?

This pioneer woman’s journey is inspired by a true story.

The Reluctant Pioneer is available from your favorite online retailer: https://books2read.com/u/bM87dX.

Because I retraced the Oregon Trail before publishing the nonfiction version of Matilda’s story, I had photos and artwork to complement the novel. The photo booklet, called Retracing the Oregon Trail in Pictures: Following the Journey of Matilda Koontz Jackson, is available on Amazon.com.

An ebook version of the abbreviated book (without spoilers for the novel readers) is available free to people who subscribe to my newsletter at https://mczander2024.ag-sites.net/index.htm. The entire ebook is available as a thank you gift to readers of the novel.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, X, and Tiktok.

My second novel, Shattered Peace: A Century of Silence, is a dual-time novel also inspired by true events. It will be released this spring.

I’m a firm believer in what Rudyard Kipling said: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”