Rock Creek touches on the youth and love of Luc Fiske and Lindsay Pass. It was love at first sight for Luc
when seven-year old Lindsay was introduced to her classmates in the General, Nebraska schoolhouse. They grow up
in the bosom of Rock Creek, where an adult Luc buys land to build their future home. A week before their wedding,
Lindsay is raped and she runs away to Boston, rather than let her family know. Field justice is swift and brutal
in the West and Lindsay knows that both her husband to be and father will murder the villains, and be hung for
their vengeful act.
The irony of the story is that Lindsay runs from those who will love and nurture her in her grief into the home
of her great grandfather, a cold and unscrupulous man who is without concern for her welfare. He only cares about
his fortune and his good name.
The themes that hold the story together are the kindness of strangers, and the strength of love. Lindsay’s
father was adopted by strangers who are closer to him than those of his own blood; Lindsay was introduced to her
father when she was 7 and thought to be orphaned. Lindsay must accept succor from a strange family, a strange
culture, and a strange city in order to come back home.
While Rock Creek is an idyllic love story, it was still hard for me to totally buy in to the resolution.
We all want those we love to accept us and support us, but we also know how the average mid-western farm family of
100+ years ago would have responded to a rape victim. While it was hard for me to suspend my disbelief, that doesn’t
mean I didn’t cry at the key moments, and rejoice in the ending that was happy for almost everybody.