"Death Comes for the Archbishop" by Willa Cather

Willa Cather fictionalizes the lives a pair of French catholic priests who go to the newly-formed New Mexico territory to spread the faith in a harsh, half-pagan world. The plot is episodic and the descriptions of the landscape capture the stark loneliness of the desert Southwest.

Archbishop Latour endures numerous hardships just establishing his diocese, including the simple physical difficulties of operating in this emerging territory, and the intrasigence of the established Spanish clergy.

This book is held in reverence by many, as Cather's most-studied work, but I don't find it equal to "O Pioneers!" Its only uniting feature is the person of the archbishop. He conquers all, and lives to retire and tend his gardens. Honestly, I didn't find much of anything deeper than that.