Mary Peace Finley
Award-winning author of books for young people
© Mary Peace Finley 2012
--(Continued from previous page) From Rick Manzanares, Museum Director, Fort Garland
"...to look at the Trail through romantic eyes, it was at once a trail of adventure, danger and
fulfillment. Those who traveled it and lived on it learned about each other's languages, faiths, values
and hopes. As with Teresita, friendships formed hurriedly out of a human need to love and out of the
necessity for survival. Often, the Santa Fe Trail is written about through the eyes of men. In Meadow
Lark we see it through the eyes of a young girl. As with many who risked life and limb to go on the
trail, Teresita was filled with wide-eyed dreams of a better life and a better world. Even on the eve of
the Mexican American War of 1846, this young girl knew she had an important place in the future of her homeland.
Her idealism matched the idealism of those adventuring souls who had a need to see the next hill. Her story is the
collective story of those dreamers on the Santa Fe Trail.
"Although written for young adults, this third of a trilogy is a wonderful read for adults as well. I found myself
feeling the pain, sorrow, love and adventure as each page greeted me with just that. Finley places you back in
that time. She welcomes you to see through the eyes of a young girl coming of age. She teaches you history, but
manages to make you part of it. Teresita's interaction with adults, friendly natives and not so friendly natives,
Anglos and Spanish aristocracy brings out the truly multicultural life of the Trail.
"Mary Peace Finley has the wonderful talent of a truly good storyteller. She places you into the story and allows
you to steal some of the past. I look forward to the next great adventure---still waiting to be written."
