Four Novels With Arizona Characters or Themes
A Socialite, a Military Man, a Prospector and an Impoverished Girl
Jul 8, 2009
Some fictional characters found in these Arizona novels are a New York socialite, a United States Army officer, a poverty-stricken Kentucky girl and a tough young gold prospector.
Mackenna’s Gold, by Will Henry
Set in Arizona Territory in 1897, this tale was called “a Western melodrama with a touch of mystery and superstition” by Publisher’s Weekly. A tough young prospector named Mackenna learns from a dying Apache of a valley filled with gold, and is then forced to lead a band of outlaws to the treasure. Library Journal called the book “an entertaining piece based on a first-rate Southwestern lost mine tale and a very good but little-read personal narrative”. The book was made into a 1969 movie starring Gregory Peck.
Random House, 1963 – no ISBN issued
A Distant Trumpet, by Paul Horgan
A United States Army outpost in Arizona Territory during the 1870’s is the setting for this story that blends military, personal and social history together into a compelling whole. Library Journal states that the author “evokes the arid landscape of the Southwest with his usual great skill and feeling; in the characterization of an officer Mr. Horgan has accomplished a real tour de force”.
Farrar, Straus & Cudahy 1960 – no ISBN issued
Foxfire, by Anya Seton
The heroine in this novel is a New York socialite who falls in love with a rough-and-tumble engineer who moves her to what might as well have been a foreign land, called Lodestone, Arizona. It was during the Great Depression and the remote town was awful for this cultured young lady. When the young couple went in search of an ancient Pueblo cave filled with gold, they find much more than they could have imagined. This novel was made into a 1955 movie of the same name, starring Jane Russell and Jeff Chandler
Houghton Mifflin, 1950 – no ISBN issued
The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver
A poverty-stricken young woman leaves her home in Kentucky to make her way in life. At a stop in Oklahoma, a toddler is abruptly left in her care and she takes the child on down the road with her, towards Tucson, Arizona. There they meet a colorful character named Mattie, who is the proprietor of Jesus Is Lord Used Tires. The novel is filled with stories within stories in a charming way. The author admits that this, her first novel, is autobiographical in nature. The New York Times says the plot is “as richly connected as a fine poem, but reads like realism.”
Harper & Row, 1988 - ISBN 0-06-015863-8
Novelists Will Henry, Paul Horgan, Anya Seton and Barbara Kingsolver come from very different backgrounds and experiences to create fictional characters and stories that share a common setting.
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