The Legend Of Annie Murphy (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
The Cooper family and a few other kids and grown-ups go on a camping trip to relax from their hard work that they've been doing and they hear the legend of Annie Murphy in the hills and if you camp on the grave of Annie Murphy you'll die the next morning. So, while they were sleeping, one of them sees what looks to be Annie Murphy's shadow. The next morning, the kids get permission from their Dad to go out in the canyon valley to check things out, but when they entered the valley, they actually entered a time vortex to the time of the case of Annie Murphy. They have to find all the sculptures that Annie Murphy made to tell her story of what happened to her because she was accused of shooting from her bedroom her husband to get his mine. The truth was that it was the lawyer had shot Mr. Murphy from her bedroom to make it look like she shot the bullet so that he could get the gold mine. In the end, the kids escape thru the graveyard when the time vortex was closing. I liked the book because it was a western and took place in the past.
This story takes place in the past and present where the Coopers get seperated from their Dad (Dr Cooper) from the present to the past while following Annie. They get caught up in the situation of the possibility of never seeing each other again. They think Annie is innocent of killing her husband even though she loved him. The sheriff and the judge wanted Cyrus Murphy's gold mine. They killed him and blamed it on Annie and since that Annie can't read and write, she sculpted her story because she was an excellent sculpture. In the end, when the judge was chasing the kids and ended up in the cemetary at the same time when the sheriff was there and going to shoot Dr. Cooper, Annie jumped out from behind a rock and touched the kids in the past and it took them to the present. Overall, I thought this book was a classic western time travel story. I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to any 11 year old boy to read.
What do You think about The Legend Of Annie Murphy (2005)?
This was definitely one of my favorites. Peretti's incorporation of archaeology, Christianity, and fictional changes in reality send characters back in time to a small village. From the past and the present, the Coopers must figure out the mystery of Annie Murphy's appearance - and get everyone to the same side of time. The plot is always tense, the development interesting, and the process of discovery unique. It has been a while since I have read these books, but I have the feeling they will still hold to the high expectations I recall of them.
—King Haddock
