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Brother Timothy

by Sid Ottman

112 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #07-1396; ISBN 1-4251-3575-7; US$12.95, C$12.95, EUR8.85, £6.69

Brother Timothy dons a brown robe and, with his "holy" white donkey, leads the revival of an abandoned mission-chapel and the small decaying village in the 1880's.

About the Book

Timothy is an eighteen year old youth who sees no future living in a small, dying mining town in the Rocky Mountain foothills during the 1880's. A bishop's letter to Father Leopold, Tim's priest and mentor, asking "Is there anyone or anything" you can suggest to revive the mission in a small village of Praeter? With Father Leopold's encouragement, Tim accepts the challenge.

On the way to the new village Tim rescues what becomes a "holy" white donkey which helps to make things happen. Tim finds the chapel in shambles and the community people discouraged. He dons a brown robe and thus becomes an unofficial brother, and with recruited help, refurbishes the chapel, organizes a school where there is none, creates a hospital out of an old mansion, and generally brings the village back to life.

There is a mystery in the kidnapping of Tim's baby sister nine years earlier. There is an awkward romance between Tim and his major ally in reviving the mission and village, righting some wrongs and promoting some rights. There is no violence, sex, nor bad language in the book.

Like a Horatio Alger story, everything turns out beautifully.

About the Author

Sid Ottman is a retired educator. He earned a BA in journalism at the University of Wisconsin. After military service he edited a weekly newspaper and worked in public relations and in Seattle. He returned to college and earned two graduate degrees at Stanford University. He taught in high school and then for 25 years was a specialist in health and special education in Santa Barbara County.

He edited a California school health publication and the Santa Barbara County Education Quarterly, and was editor for numerous organizational and church newsletters. During this time he also taught health science classes at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He developed and administered an early program for the classroom treatment of autistic children - now a university program, researched early childhood education training - now a community college offering, and founded an outdoor science school, all of which are continuing today.

In 2003 he published "Six Scripts for Musical Comedies".

Mr. Ottman now lives in a retirement community in Santa Barbara where he served as president of the residents' association and represented the Vista del Monte Retirement Community on the advisory board of the Front Porch Communities and Services Corporation. He swims or golfs five days a week.

"Brother Timothy appeared in my thoughts and, as if by 'divine guidance', seemed to write itself. Each time I came to an abyss in my writing, a bridge would appear and the outline for the next chapter would unfold."