The Witches of Ruidoso

$12.95

Brings to life the western territory that would become New Mexico at the end of the nineteenth century.

by John Sandoval

ISBN: 978-1-55885-766-7
Publication Date: April 30, 2013
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 120
Imprint: Piñata Books
Ages:
14 and up

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Young Elijah was sitting on the porch of the Ruidoso Store when fourteen-year-old Beth Delilah and her father climbed down from the stage coach. Blond with lovely pale skin, big blue eyes and “dressed from boot to bonnet in black” in mourning for her mother, she was the prettiest, most exotic thing he had ever seen. And when she bent over to pick up a horned toad, which she then held right up to her face in complete fascination, Elijah learned that it’s possible to feel jealous of an amphibian.

In the last years of the nineteenth century, in the western territory that would become New Mexico, the two young people become constant companions. They roam the ancient country of mysterious terrain, where the mountain looms and reminds them of their insignificance, and observe the eccentric characters in the village: Mr. Blackwater, known as “No Leg Dancer” by the Apaches because of the leg he lost in the War Between the States and his penchant for blowing reveille on his bugle each morning; their friend, Two Feather, the Mescalero Apache boy who takes Beth Delilah to meet his wise old grandfather who sees mysterious things; and Señora Roja, who everyone believes is a bruja, or witch, and who they know to be vile and evil.

Elijah has horrible nightmares involving Señora Roja, death and torture. And when the witch enslaves a girl named Rosa, the pair must try to rescue her from her grim fate. Together, Elijah and Beth Delilah come of age in a land of mountains and ravens, where good and evil vie for the souls of white men and Indians alike.

“A posthumously published coming-of-age story in which an old man recounts meeting his first love in New Mexico Territory in 1895… Elegant prose is a highlight in a book [with] memoirlike tone…”—Kirkus Reviews

“Elegiac, elegant and understated, Sandoval’s short novel about a boy’s first love, set in the 1890s in Ruidoso, New Mexico, is a beauty to behold.”—Mamiverse

“A compelling story, told by an eighty-year old man named Elijah about events of his life in New Mexico as a young teen. Sandoval’s use of descriptive words pulls the reader into the story and creates visual images in the mind.”—Southwestern Ohio Young Adult Materials Review

JOHN SANDOVAL wrote screenplays, poems and novels. Two of his plays were given staged readings in local theaters in Nevada City, California, where he lived for many years. In his words he “earned his daily bread as fire fighter, gold miner, house painter. From these occupations, and from idling about on street corners and in saloons, he has drawn his inspiration.” At the time of his death in 2011 he was residing in Cleveland, Ohio, where he wrote and worked at the historical Alcazar Hotel as late night desk clerk. This is his first and only published novel.

ATOS Interest Level: Middle/Upper Grades
Category: Young Adult
LEXILE: 1010L