If the Creek Don't Rise
by Rita Williams
ISBN: 9780156032858

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Jacket Notes:

When Rita Williams was four, her mother died in a Denver boarding house. This death delivered Rita into the care of her aunt Daisy, the last surviving African American widow of a Union soldier and a maverick who had spirited her sharecropping family out of the lynching South and reinvented them as ranch hands and hunting guides out West. But one by one they slipped away, to death or to an easier existence elsewhere, leaving Rita as Daisy's last hope to right the racial wrongs of the past and to make good on a lifetime of thwarted ambition. "If the Creek Don't Rise" tells how Rita found her way out from under this crippling legacy and, instead of becoming "a perfect credit to her race," discovered how to become herself.

Set amid the harsh splendor of the Colorado Rockies, this is a gorgeous, ruthless, and unique account of the lies families live-and the moments of truth and beauty that save us.

Welcome readers to the preview of my book, If The Creek Don't Rise. I hope you enjoy reading it each day and look forward to any comments or questions you may have. -- Rita Williams

Rita, are you still in Denver? I always like Colorado stories. I like to go visit sites while I read them, if I can.

I am not still in Colorado. And when I have gone back, the Colorado I remember is there only in a few snapshots. It would be unthinkable now for me to go down to the "creek" and drink. Because of overdevelopment, the water table is frequently contaminated because of so many septic tanks. The monumental issue of land, wildlife and water management often takes a back seat to the prosperity that goes along with real estate money. A familiar dilemma. Still, Colorado will always be home even though I can't afford to live there.

Hello Rita,
I can't tell you how much I enjoy reading your book, and it's only Tuesday!
This book definitely made to my Wish List.
Thank you for sharing your memories with us. If you ever pop in to Australia,don't be shy ,say hello.
Beata

I am thrilled my little tome has made it to Australia! And I am so grateful for your comments. I would love love love to see you if it ever works out. Thanks again.

By the way, I am in a writer's group with a marvelous Australian writer named David Francis. Make certain to check out his new book "Stray Dog Winter."

What a fabulous start. I can't wait to read your book, Rita! I also grew up in Colorado (though I moved when I got married) and I remember how people used to tell me I wasn't a native because my grandparents weren't born there! I loved Colorado deeply and spent my entire youth on a horse farm. It brings tears to my eyes when I think of what's become of that area nowadays.

Thanks for this great book! I can't wait to finish it!

Linnea, Precious few people can claim to be natives because they, their parents, and their grandparents were born in Colorado. I know of a few out of thousands of people here. I am a Colorado native but my parents came in 1944, [grandparents never lived here]. And yes, Rita, it has changed. I miss growing up playing in the National Forest for a playground, now there are so many fences.

Yes, now there are so many fences. But the magic is that we who saw it in its pristine stages no how hard we have to work to preserve and retrieve it. And it takes all of us.

You take good care.

I think the whole truth is that anybody who isn't a Ute Indian isn't a native, don't you think?
It amazes me sometimes how people can be so cavalier about their belittling of other's experiences.
The truth is that smell of dew in Aspen trunks and the sound of snow runoff in the swollen creeks . . . that will be with me until I am gone, no matter where I go.

Thank you so much for your comments.

Dear Rita,

You pulled me in immediately with your book!

So much so that I just ordered it, knowing that I wanted to read your whole story.

Hopefully my book will arrive right about when this daily read is over.

Kudos,
Eileen

Can't tell you how happy I am to hear this story is still chugging along. I wrote it with the hope that those who had never know how profoundly healing the Rockies can be might know. Hope you enjoy it and that it touches your heart.

...and I'm anxiously awaiting my book in the mail. Even expedited, it's still not here.

Rita,

This book is wonderful!

I forgot to mention that I lived in Colorado for many years (the best of my life)and thought I would live there forever.

But things changed there so much and so fast that I couldn't keep up, and can no way afford to live there anymore.

The daily read ends just as you're about to tell how Daisy wound up in the shack by the railroad track -

... come on in,sit a spell, and please tell me more!

Rita,
I read the beginning of the book over the week, and saturday went to the library and borrowed it. I have got to tell you that I didn't get much housework done this weekend (Daisy would have slapped me). I just couldn't tear myself away. Your book was inspiring, reminded me that perserverence in finding 'myself' (not what others expect me to be) is our most important journey. You are such a wonderful storyteller. I envy that. It also reminded me that those that are the toughest in my life to love, have secrets and stories of their own that have made them become the person that they are. it also reminded me to try to appreciate them as they are, even when they may not know how to show their love in the ways we would like them to and are difficult to love since they hurt us so often. Thank you for your story. It was wonderful. Thank you for sharing it with me.