My friends who have read My Antonia by Willa Cather are disappointed by Death Comes to the Archbishop. It's a book that is short on drama and loose in structure with nine "books" that read well as short stories. The book is based on the lives of the first bishop/archbishop of Santa Fe and his vicar, following them from their overland journey to Santa Fe to their deaths as old men. While hair-raising stories do come and go within this 300-page epic, the chief focus is the friendship of the two men.
Cather gives us a bit of a travelogue of the southwest in the 1800s as the poor churchmen travel back and forth across the desert, up and down mesas and up into Denver, skirting along mountain precipices.. We meet Navajo chiefs, Mexican priests, rich rancheros and even a few desparados. Kit Carson takes the stage, as well.
Having lived in that area for 3 years, I loved the book. Cather captured the serenity of the landscape, the desolation of the desert and the heart of the people. Santa Fe today, with its cathedral, plaza and winding streets is a beautiful city. We get glimpses into how it came to life and how the cathedral was built.
Read it!
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