TRIBUTARY
by Barbara K. Richardson
September 2012 | Historical Fiction | 978-1-937226-04-6 | 352 pp | $15.95
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In Tributary, BARBARA K. RICHARDSON claims the land of her Mormon ancestors who settled the northern Salt Lake Valley. Richardson earned an MFA in poetry from Eastern Washington University. Aside from writing, Barbara has renovated eight houses and planted thousands of trees and shrubs as a landscape designer. Barbara is also an avid environmentalist. She lives in Kamas, Utah.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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A misfit in a Mormon frontier town in 1870s Utah, protagonist Clair Martin shows what polygamy feels like from inside the fold. Her stubborn search for identity takes Clair and a small band of mavericks—white, black and Shoshone—beyond the confines of the Utah Territory to the slums of Reconstruction Dixie, and back again. Here, one young woman’s life becomes a quiet revolution to untangle what she’s inherited from what she really needs.
PRAISE FOR TRIBUTARY
WINNER OF THE 2013 UTAH BOOK AWARD
THE 15 BYTES BOOK AWARD
THE WILLA LITERARY FINALIST AWARD
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“A quest to belong is the theme of this novel from Richardson, whose lyrical prose and heartfelt characters shine through. This novel has much to offer, including a balanced perspective on a controversial time in Mormon history, but its greatest gift is its wisdom about finding one’s own path.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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“Stunning. . . . Gritty. . . . Remarkable.”
—15 BYTES
“Richardson takes readers back to 1870 Utah for this tale of strength and survival. Raised as a Mormon, our hero Clair Martin travels to the American South, through Shoshone country, and back to Utah.”
—THE DENVER POST
"As wild and isolating as the determined, defiant Clair, the prairies and mountain ranges seduce both narrator and reader. Richardson has created rich, memorable characters."
—HIGH COUNTRY NEWS