Responses to “Rasmus, Tales of a Utah Cowboy”

July 7, 2011

I’m starting to get feedback from people reading Rasmus, so I thought I would post one for all of you who have hesitated. For those of you who don’t know, I wrote Rasmus based on the true stories given to me by Jay Anderson in Black Forest Colorado. He had a basic concept in place and the true stories of Rasmus (Jay’s grandfather)going alone to Missouri from Utah to sell the wild mustangs, setting his own broken ankle by falling backward with a rope tied to the ankle and looped over a beam and tied to himself again, Lars leaving on a mission and his wife’s response to that, (not what we usually hear) and some of the other roping feats. I wrote it into a novel by adding some characters, events and in some cases squaring Jay’s events with historical records. I think that though the result is a work of fiction that incorporates real people and events, it is an accurate snapshot of that time, place and culture. I had the freak opportunity to talk to Gerald Lund about what the records seemed to indicate and he agreed that I was right in my conclusions. So the Anderson family is quite representative of what was happening in Utah and Idaho between 1880-1920 away from the Wasatch front.
“Rasmus, Tales of a Utah Cowboy” captures the humor and courage of men and women that went before.
Historical Fiction with a real-life western flair. Here’s one of the recent responses.

hey Beth, I just finished Rasmus, and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it! I started it this afternoon (after I finished Jane Eyre) and couldn’t put it down. I thought you did a terrific job with the characters; the stories were fascinating, and I loved how the gospel encircled the people. Wonderful! I will recommend it to my book club friends.     

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