The Mesquite Stake’s annual Discovery Day on March 21, will cap off with a 6:00 pm fireside by popular historical fiction writer Dean Hughes. His recent novel, Muddy: Where Faith and Polygamy Collide, is set in the Muddy River area of the Moapa Valley in the 1860s. The fireside will be held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Stake Center, 100 North Arrowhead Lane, Mesquite.
Brother Hughes’ interest in the Muddy’s history piqued as one of his relatives was an early settler to the territory. He was also one of many people who worked on the new Church History series, Saints; he drafted some of the chapters about polygamy, and “started to know quite a bit about it,” said Hughes. He will share his research and back story of the book.
Among the more than one hundred books Dean has written are two well-beloved series: Children of the Promise and Come to Zion. Like Muddy, captivating stories and fictional characters are woven into historical situations.
He holds a bachelor's degree from Weber State College in Utah and master's and PhD degrees from the University of Washington. He also attended post-doctoral seminars at Stanford and Yale Universities and taught English at both Central Missouri State University and Brigham Young University.
Dean and his wife Kathleen served missions in Nauvoo, Illinois and Beirut, Lebanon. Kathleen also served as first counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency under Bonnie Parkin. They are the parents of three children, grandparents of nine and great grandparents of one.
