Incident at Pishkin Creek

Not a lot happens here, but Svee ( Spirit Wolf ) vividly portrays beauty and a sense of daily life in Montana near the turn of the century. Former cowboy Max Bass, struggling to build up his ranch and small coal business, advertises for a mail-order bride. When Catherine O'Dowd, Irish immigrant maid, arrives from Boston, she's taken with Max initially but her dream of becoming a lady married to a ``Montana entrepreneur'' doesn't come true. She rebels at life in a prairie dugout and wants to leave, but Max insists that she stay--at least until the priest returns in three months. While enlivened by well-done set pieces--a barn-raising, the rescue of a child from a flooding creek and a running battle with a scheming banker--most of the book is occupied with the fierce contest of wills, the conflict between Max's urge toward family and Catherine's fight for freedom. (June)