Cottonwood Saints

Gene Guerin

Spanning the twentieth century, Cottonwood Saints chronicles the lives of a New Mexico woman and her son, Michael. Margarita Juana Galvan was born in a lumber camp in 1913 and is brought up like a little princess in her grandparents� hacienda. In contrast, Margarita�s adult life is spent in depression-ridden Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Told through Michael, Margarita's story embodies the challenges faced by an intelligent, independent-minded girl maturing in a man's world. Margarita and her family's lives intersect with the prominent events of the century: the influenza pandemic of 1918, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, the Great Depression, and World War II.

Based on the life of Guerin's mother, Cottonwood Saints connects the lives of the poorest citizens of New Mexico to the local power structure. The story ends after Michael, who became a priest, must leave his order in disgrace, and with the burial of Margarita in 1991.

"Cottonwood Saints is a moving family saga, rich in lore and personality and the marvelous culture of New Mexico. Margarita Juana is a powerful woman, a survivor who perseveres against all odds, determined to hold things together. Her story, about the extreme courage of ordinary people, is sad and true and very inspiring."--John Nichols, author of The Milagro Beanfield War

"The lyrical voice will draw you in, but it's Margarita Juana's twentieth-century--spanning story that will keep you reading. Cottonwood Saints paints a northern New Mexico on the brink of change its characters both embrace and fear. Cottonwood Saints is quietly lovely, heartbreakingly real."--Lisa Lenard-Cook, author of Dissonance and Coyote Morning

"With poetic descriptions of countryside and towns struggling to be modern, we are taken through the late nineteenth century in Las Vegas, New Mexico, in its growing pains as a railroad town, the hardships of World War II both for those who participated in the Baatan march and those who stayed behind, to the contemporary period. Guerin has exactly captured a period from rural life to contemporary life, with all its disappointments and challenges."--Tey Diana Rebolledo, department of Spanish, University of New Mexico

Winner of the Mountains and Plains 2007 Regional Book Award for Adult Fiction.

"Cottonwood Saints is a compelling read, one that lingers in the mind after you turn the last page."--Roundup Magazine

"An impressive debut novel from Denver writer Gene Guerin. . . Guerin's characters are solid and fascinating, and his writing is powerful in detail and rhythm, carrying a touch of poetry often found in speakers of both Spanish and English."--Ruidoso News, NM

"Gene Guerin offers a vivid picture of life on one of the last American frontiers. . . Margarita learns to cope with her life, and make what she can of it, just as everyone does. Her varying degrees of sucess and failure make her an everyday hero, and keep the reader turning the pages of Cottonwood Saints."--Write On! Four Corners

"Guerin's locales come to life as he melds detailed description with the history of the region."--The Durango Herald

"Guerin's love for his native New Mexico and his skill as a documentary writer are obvious in this work. His carefully crafted prose is vibrant and clearly evocative of time and place."--Rocky Mountain News, CO

"No matter how quietly Cottonwood Saints stands among them, it will surely take its place as one of the standards of southwestern fiction that preceeded it, and to which it belongs, heart and soul."--The Bloomsbury Review

"Set in the remote high country of northern New Mexico, Cottonwood Saints is an absorbing, historical novel and a real treat."--Michael McGarrity, author of Serpent Gate

"Told from the perspective of Margarita's son, this docu-novel unfolds slowly yet exquisitely, as if the reader were thumbing through old family photos with a beloved elderly relative."--Booklist

Born and raised in New Mexico, award-winning author Gene Guerin now lives in Denver.

6 x 9 350 pages