Historical Fiction set in 1886 San Luis Valley, Colorado
To Be Published Summer 2019-Sequel to Prairie Grace (third book published, second fiction book published)
Author: Marilyn Bay
Prairie Truth is a believable tale woven into the historical timeline of the Mexican-Anglo cultural clash in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. Set in 1886, residents of the San Luis Valley have lived a traditional Mexican lifestyle before the influx of Anglo settlement. It is here that 23-year-old Caroline seeks acceptance.
After a traumatizing childhood experience, Caroline’s desire to fit in sends her to Denver as a young woman, but she finds Denverites to be even more disdainful of her mixed white-Indian heritage than the settlers on the prairie where she grew up. Disappointed, Caroline’s attention is piqued by a comment from Lucy, an old friend of Caroline’s mother that Caroline could pass for a Mexican señorita.
Caroline flees to the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado where she learns Spanish and enough of the culture to pass for a Mexican señorita, but trying to appear as someone she is not disquiets her spirit and causes her other problems. Her failed marriage officially ends when her pompous mother-in-law learns Caroline’s true identity. Again, she must flee into anonymity. This time she settles in the town of San Luis, Colorado’s oldest (European) town.
Caroline is assisted in her struggle to assimilate by Mauricio Córdova. The Cordoba family of humble means prospered as ranchers in the San Luis Valley until the death of Mauricio’s father. Circumstances send Mauricio looking for work with another ranch. He is a masterful leader of his crew of vaqueros and a talented businessman, who also has a past to overcome.
The seldom known history of the people of the San Luis Valley, whose ancestors are today the successful farmers, ranchers and business owners of this southern Colorado region, is told with accuracy and detail in Prairie Truth. Readers will learn about Spanish and Mexican land grants, as well as the food, medicinal herbs, architecture, religious, cultural and ranching traditions of the San Luis Valley. Prairie Truth chronicles events such as the Taos, New Mexico, uprising settlement of the San Luis Valley and establishment of the National Western Stockyards in Denver in a way that is engaging and understandable. Reaching back centuries to the Inquisition in Spain, readers will understand the reach of anti-Semitism and the measures taken by Spaniards of Jewish descent to escape it.
Not unlike the clash of white and Indian cultures in Prairie Grace, Prairie Truth portrays the clash of cultures between the Anglo settlers who move into the San Luis Valley decades after it has been settled by the Mexicans. Some of the Anglos use the Mexican’s own centuries old cultural practices to cheat them out of what is rightfully theirs. Incensed by the injustice, Mauricio uses his business acumen and understanding of Anglo practices to right these wrongs.
Ultimately, Caroline—known by the people of San Luis as Carolina Vargas—finds peace when she learns that only the truth can truly set her free.
Readers who loved Prairie Grace for its historical research and detail, will love sequel Prairie Truth for the same reason.