Go as a River by Shelley Read

 Go as a River by Shelley Read

Go as a River by Shelley Read is published on 13th April 2023 by Doubleday. My thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a copy to review and also Anne Cater from Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the Tour.

Synopsis

I've come to understand how the exceptional lurks beneath the ordinary like the deep and mysterious world beneath the sea.

On a cool autumn morning, Victoria Nash heads into her village pulling a rickety wagon filled with late-season peaches. As she nears an intersection, a stranger in town stops to ask her the way.

She makes the decision to walk with him. 'Go as a river,' he tells her as they part ways.

So begins a mesmerising story of split-second decisions and considered acts that make up one woman's tumultuous life, as Victoria begins to absorb and follow his words.

Gathering all the pieces of her small and extraordinary existence, spinning through the eddies of desire, heartbreak and betrayal, she will arrive at a single rocky decision that will change her life for ever.

My Review

This was one of those beautiful, emotive reads that takes you through a whole gamut of feelings as you follow the unfurling of Torie's life and the challenges she faces, and overcomes, whilst becoming a strong and independent woman. You are taken on a journey as this naively innocent girl meets Wil, who is to change the destiny of her life as well as how her the strength she is capable of.

This is a story of heartbreak, love, care and desire and you experience all of these emotions through the wonderfully descriptive that portrays the changes in Torie's life and feelings, along with the nature that surrounds, and sustains her throughout her journey.

We follow rivers, forests and peach orchards, the description of which leaves you with that feeling of beautifully sun ripened peach juice dripping down your chin and gorgeously sticky fingers. Special fruits that thrive year after year in a resurgence of strength and determination, mirroring the strength in Torie.

Wil's whisper of " Go as a River" is a wonderful release for Torie and she later repeats this to Ruby-Alice as she lets her go and feels her spirit rise.

The whole idea of the book cleverly follows the idea that life is like a river. It carries on flowing, taking you along with the eddies and the currents, through the ripples and the calm waters, forever flowing; like life. This quote, to me, sums up this symbolism, " Just as a single rainstory can erode the banks and change the course of a river, so can a single circumstance of a girl's life erase who she was before"

A 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟read that should be on everyone's book list.

About the Author

Shelley Read is a fifth generation Coloradoan who lives with her family in the Elk Mountains of the Western Slope.

She was a Senior Lecturer at Western Colorado University for nearly three decades, where she taught writing, literature, environmental studies, and Honors, and was a founder of the Environment & Sustainability major and a support program for first-generation and at-risk students.

GO AS A RIVER, her first novel, is inspired by the landscape she comes from and will be published in over twenty-five territories.