Seven Cities of Mud — Florence Byham Weinberg

Seven Cities of Mud is Historical Fiction.

Two radically different cultures, 16th-century Spanish and ancient Pueblo Indian, collide. Franciscan Fray Agustín leads an expedition to evangelize the Pueblo Indians of the Rio Grande. He persuades Poli, a widowed Pueblo woman, to be their guide, but Captain Chamuscado and the soldiers take charge, make prisoners of the Franciscans, and begin to seek gold. Conflicts and passions explode-love and faith oppose anger, brutality, hatred, lust, greed and ambition-with tragic consequences.