First Christmas At Muddy Creek
by Richard A. Bartlett
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Book Summary Information
Author: Richard A. BartlettEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-02-22
ISBN: 1419682016
Number of pages: 292
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
Book Reviews of First Christmas At Muddy Creek
Book Review: Sweet Story - Three & Half Stars
Summary: 3 Stars
"People were puzzled when, in 1995, the Catholic Bishop of Montana announced that he would celebrate Christmas Midnight Mass at the Church of the Mountain Madonna in Muddy Creek."
So begins "First Christmas at Muddy Creek". The author then goes on to give every indication that the story which follows took place in Muddy Creek. However, this is not the case. The actual events never took place, and this book is in fact, a work of "transposed" fiction. At the end we are told events "similar" to those described took place in Virginia City.
As someone who suffered some training as a historian I find this vexing. But lets suppose these things don't bother you, and let us talk about what you do get in this book.
The story begins with a priest who stomps into town one frosty Christmas Eve with his two mules and party of grungy travelers. He arrives just in time to witness a gunfight. Though from Italy, the priest has been in the United States long enough that he is not surprised by the ensuing murder. The denizens however are more than surprised to find any man of the cloth amongst them. Some are put off by Father Demetrius de Mara's Catholic faith. Others, like the Irish and Welsh miners, are delighted to see him.
But the real story, which is somehow predictable but enticing none-the-less, is that these gruff men forget their differences and almost begrudgingly, one by one, fall into helping clear out one of the larger saloons in order to have a place for midnight services.
Woven into this basic story are the sub-stories of various people and events, including two young lovers, one of whom is a taxi-dancer, the other of whom is a geologist; as well as a family man who has fled the abolitionists troubles of Missouri and Kansas.
The writing is plain. The story telling straightforward, but everything together kept me coming back for more.
"First Christmas in Muddy Creek" won't be for everyone. The story is sentimental, but at the right time of year it might appeal.
Note: not for young children. Though there is nothing graphic, there is plenty of sexual innuendo and references, and violence. YA - okay.
Pam T~
Summary of First Christmas At Muddy Creek
Charming, poignant, and wonderfully heartfelt, First Christmas at Muddy Creek by Richard A. Bartlett is a touching tribute to the human spirit and the power of redemption. Mounted on his big black mule, Gabriel, Jesuit Father Demetrius de Mara travels to a boomtown in Montana that is wrought with sin and human degradation, with the hope of hosting a midnight mass on Christmas Eve. Sound easy? The problem is he has just a few hours to find a makeshift church, perform a burial ceremony for a recently departed shoot-out victim, and scare up a few parishioners. It will take dogged determination, a little cooperation, and a lot of luck for the small community of Muddy Creek to convert a saloon into a chapel, but as the clock ticks a bevy of rather odd and unlikely brethren will join Father Demetrius' fray to help bring the Wild West a Christmas to remember.General Books
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