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One Night in a Bad Inn: A True Story
A 2007 High Plains Book Award finalist, ONE NIGHT IN A BAD INN is the fascinating true story of two colorful immigrant families–one Welsh, one Irish–who lived through extraordinary times. Rich in history and character, this remarkable saga follows a notorious matriarch, two daring fugitives, a heroic Irish doughboy, and a beautiful inspiring lady across the parched plains of eastern Montana to the raucous mining town of Butte to the bloody battlefields of the First World War. It is a great read through which the reader learns intriguing history through the lives of very intriguing people who happen to be the author’s ancestors. Pictures and maps are exclusive to the print editions. A dramatis personae is at the author’s web site.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
325 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 10, 2006
17 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Christy Leskovar
5 books3 followersDuring a visit to my hometown in 1997, I learned shocking news: my great-grandmother had been arrested for murder. I left my engineering career to find out what happened and write a book about it. The true story of what I found out, One Night in a Bad Inn, was a 2007 High Plains Book Award finalist. My second book, Finding the Bad Inn: Discovering My Family's Hidden Past, chronicles my adventure across the globe--from Butte to Belfast to Belgium--to find out what happened.
My newest book, East of the East Side, tells the true story of a Slovenian peasant boy who becomes a concert bassoonist and must flee Paris when the First World War begins, a Viennese kitchen maid who receives money from a mysterious benefactor and off she goes to America, a scrappy undaunted gold prospector who faces off against one of the most powerful men in the state, and an outrageous girl who grows up in a Wild West saloon. They are real people. Two world wars shake the foundations of their lives taking them and their offspring from peasant farms in Austria to Imperial Vienna and the glittering Paris opera, to the American West–the fledgling Montana smelter town of East Helena, the Flathead Indian Reservation, the notorious copper metropolis of Butte, the Slavic enclave of East Butte, San Francisco, and the fertile desert of eastern Washington. It is an engaging read made richer in a well-researched historical and cultural backdrop.
I was born in Butte, Montana, grew up in Kennewick, Washington, graduated from Seattle University with degrees in mechanical engineering and French, and then joined Bechtel in Gaithersburg, Maryland. After stints in Kansas, Barcelona, and San Francisco, I transferred to an assignment in Las Vegas. I left Bechtel to write my first book and now write full time.
My newest book, East of the East Side, tells the true story of a Slovenian peasant boy who becomes a concert bassoonist and must flee Paris when the First World War begins, a Viennese kitchen maid who receives money from a mysterious benefactor and off she goes to America, a scrappy undaunted gold prospector who faces off against one of the most powerful men in the state, and an outrageous girl who grows up in a Wild West saloon. They are real people. Two world wars shake the foundations of their lives taking them and their offspring from peasant farms in Austria to Imperial Vienna and the glittering Paris opera, to the American West–the fledgling Montana smelter town of East Helena, the Flathead Indian Reservation, the notorious copper metropolis of Butte, the Slavic enclave of East Butte, San Francisco, and the fertile desert of eastern Washington. It is an engaging read made richer in a well-researched historical and cultural backdrop.
I was born in Butte, Montana, grew up in Kennewick, Washington, graduated from Seattle University with degrees in mechanical engineering and French, and then joined Bechtel in Gaithersburg, Maryland. After stints in Kansas, Barcelona, and San Francisco, I transferred to an assignment in Las Vegas. I left Bechtel to write my first book and now write full time.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 14, 2011
I loved this book!
October 19, 2022
Based on the author's colorful ancestors in Montana, this is one of those "stranger than fiction" family history books.
One Night in a Bad Inn follows the story of several generations through the 1800s/1900s during the Great War and Great Depression years in Forsyth and Butte, MT. I enjoyed stepping back in time to the time of one-room schoolhouses, mining communities, small-town drama, wild west laws, bums and hobos, tragedies, and runaway brides.
The author's storytelling ability is what makes the story. She made an otherwise-dry family history come alive with colorful descriptions of the details of the times. I also love reading about history from the West which is more than the Oregon Trail and cowboys and Indians. This is a story of humanity and immigration all of us can relate to.
One Night in a Bad Inn follows the story of several generations through the 1800s/1900s during the Great War and Great Depression years in Forsyth and Butte, MT. I enjoyed stepping back in time to the time of one-room schoolhouses, mining communities, small-town drama, wild west laws, bums and hobos, tragedies, and runaway brides.
The author's storytelling ability is what makes the story. She made an otherwise-dry family history come alive with colorful descriptions of the details of the times. I also love reading about history from the West which is more than the Oregon Trail and cowboys and Indians. This is a story of humanity and immigration all of us can relate to.
August 16, 2022
A good view back into the stories of a Butte family and their roots. Some things that surprised me were the looks into WWI and the depth of MT boys sent to war, the way that immigrants were sent for to come to America, the strange justice (lack of innocent until proven guilty) of times, the peeks into the orphanages and Catholic school in MT and all of it through a thread of tenacity for the book's top character - Aila.
I hadn't really appreciated the amount of mobility by ocean, train and car in the 1st half of the 1900s. The pace was sometimes long but the stories were wonderfully packed with touches of the historical moments that surrounded this family.
I hadn't really appreciated the amount of mobility by ocean, train and car in the 1st half of the 1900s. The pace was sometimes long but the stories were wonderfully packed with touches of the historical moments that surrounded this family.
August 13, 2023
A hefty weighty tome to read. I liked all the family history, but I do think the author tried to cram every little revelation into the story.
Her grandmother, Aila, was a paragon of tenacity and determination. She had a crappy childhood and a husband who liked to gamble more than he worked.
Set in the mining towns of Montana, it’s a saga that is quite consuming.
Her grandmother, Aila, was a paragon of tenacity and determination. She had a crappy childhood and a husband who liked to gamble more than he worked.
Set in the mining towns of Montana, it’s a saga that is quite consuming.
October 16, 2023
True store of an immigrant family and their life in the early 1900’s during WW1 and the mining town of Butte Montana.
July 25, 2023
One Night in a Bad Inn is a history of place and time told through the experiences of a family who lived it. The time is the early 20th century, and the places are frontier Montana when it was barely a state, the brand new chaotic city of Butte, and then the trenches of Belgium in WWI. The book is masterfully researched and beautifully written.
Reread July 2023: All of the above is accurate, but perhaps fails to credit the beauty of the story as told by its author. There are many characters in an extended family over three generations, with emphasis on the middle of the three, especially a remarkable woman whose full life extends from a traumatic childhood with an incredibly self-absorbed mother and largely absent father, to a couple of years in an orphanage, to a reunion with her diabolical mother, to marriage (by elopement) with a WWI veteran—and his untimely death, leaving her a young widow with five small children—to her years of coping with poverty to care for those children, and her survival to old age that should inspire the most wicked amongst us. Butte, Montana, is the main setting, through the years when Butte was a rugged, rough, largely alcoholic, politically corrupt, dangerous mining town that could barely be described as civilized. The easy choices for those who lived there was to participate in the decadence. Yet there were those who resisted, and that is the lesson—and the inspiration—of this book.
So it is a larger story than the long tale it tells. For it exemplifies the fundamental essence of people. Probably all people. Through the second reading one may often self-reflect: How do the people I know and love compare with this family? How about myself? How can I understand how severe psychological trauma stamps lasting impacts upon those who experience it?
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Reread July 2023: All of the above is accurate, but perhaps fails to credit the beauty of the story as told by its author. There are many characters in an extended family over three generations, with emphasis on the middle of the three, especially a remarkable woman whose full life extends from a traumatic childhood with an incredibly self-absorbed mother and largely absent father, to a couple of years in an orphanage, to a reunion with her diabolical mother, to marriage (by elopement) with a WWI veteran—and his untimely death, leaving her a young widow with five small children—to her years of coping with poverty to care for those children, and her survival to old age that should inspire the most wicked amongst us. Butte, Montana, is the main setting, through the years when Butte was a rugged, rough, largely alcoholic, politically corrupt, dangerous mining town that could barely be described as civilized. The easy choices for those who lived there was to participate in the decadence. Yet there were those who resisted, and that is the lesson—and the inspiration—of this book.
So it is a larger story than the long tale it tells. For it exemplifies the fundamental essence of people. Probably all people. Through the second reading one may often self-reflect: How do the people I know and love compare with this family? How about myself? How can I understand how severe psychological trauma stamps lasting impacts upon those who experience it?
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
July 31, 2014
Although this book is a long and, thus, mildly difficult read, it is very much worth the time and energy to do so. Interesting, exciting, informative, fascinating, it's the story of Miss Leskovar's maternal grandmother and her parents before her. It has all the makings of a best-selling novel or film---adultery, murder, deceit, etc.---only thing is, this is a true story!
Miss Leskovar did a brilliant job researching and writing this story, much of which takes place on the early 20th-century Montana frontier. It serves as a beautiful tribute to her beloved maternal grandmother.
While this book appeals to me because of my interest in family history and my own Montana connection, I think it has a much broader range. Any historical drama enthusiast ought to enjoy this.
Miss Leskovar did a brilliant job researching and writing this story, much of which takes place on the early 20th-century Montana frontier. It serves as a beautiful tribute to her beloved maternal grandmother.
While this book appeals to me because of my interest in family history and my own Montana connection, I think it has a much broader range. Any historical drama enthusiast ought to enjoy this.
December 27, 2010
The author had heard some strange tales about her ancestors and decided to do some research into her Irish immigrant family's past to unearth the truth. While delving into one's geneological history may sound boring, the author's family included some interesting characters, especially her great grandmother, great uncles, and grandfather. While the book focuses on her grandmother (the family saint), it is the doings of her other relatives that makes it hold the reader's attention. Most of the story unfolds in Montana - primarily around Butte and the mines - and also in Europe during World War I.
August 12, 2014
It was fascinating reading about Butte history, and the history of this family of Welsh immigrants. The parts about battles in WWI were interesting, but a bit too much detail for me, otherwise I would have given the book a 4 rating.
The book follows the life of the author's grandmother, which is riveting, along with her family members.
The book follows the life of the author's grandmother, which is riveting, along with her family members.
January 8, 2009
This book was very detailed and a bit too long. Maybe I wasn't in the mood for the diversions back to Ireland. But the story itself and the characters were interesting, I wanted to see how it ended. I did finish it but skimmed over some of the chapters.
November 15, 2013
Solid, historical research is the basis for the events in this book. It made me want to dig a little deeper concerning my grandfather's service in WWI, since he signed up in Montana. The historical background on events in Butte was very clear and detailed.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews