#Blogtour Go As A River by Shelley Read

 It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Go As A River by Shelley Read.

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 Honours, and was a founder of the Environment & Sustainability major and a support program for first-generation and at-risk students. Shelley holds degrees in writing and literary studies from the University of Denver and Temple University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing. She is a regular contributor to Crested Butte Magazine and Gunnison Valley Journal, and has written for the Denver Post and a variety of publications. 

Go As A River, her first novel, is inspired by the landscape she comes from and will be published in over thirty territories.  

About the book

In this soaring, compassionate novel, a breath-taking picture of our natural world - its trees and mountains and light - emerges. But more than this, it is the tale of female resilience and becoming that gives Go As A River its strength, its soul, and its possibility.

Nestled in the foothills of the Elk Mountains and surrounded by sprawling forests, wandering bears and porcupine, the Gunnison River rushes by the tiny town of Iola.

On a cool autumn morning, seventeen year old Torie Nash heads into her village pulling a rickety wagon filled with late-season peaches from her farm.  As she nears an intersection, a mysterious young drifter with eyes dark and shiny as a raven’s wing, grimy thumbs and smudged cheeks, stops to ask her the way. She could have turned left or crossed over, but she did not.  She stayed.  ‘Go as a river,’ he whispers to her.  

So begins a mesmerising story that unfolds over a lifetime, as Torie attempts to absorb and follow his words. 

Gathering all the pieces of her small, extraordinary life, spinning through the eddies of desire, heartbreak and betrayal, embracing and challenged by the landscape she calls home, Torie arrives at a single rocky decision that changes her life forever. 

 

Review

It's the most fleeting of moments, gestures and meetings that often leave the biggest imprint on our souls. Little does Torie know that a chance meeting with a young drifter is one that will change the course of her life, the way she interacts with her world and how she feels about herself.

In essence the words that remain with Torie, that she go as a river, eventually give her a bigger perspective and better understanding of the fragility of time and life. You're merely a fluid moment passing by in a larger scenario or landscape, leaving behind an essence of your being and nature. Or in this particular case perhaps even leaving behind part of your spirit in another as they flow through their individual landscape. Never the twain shall meet until both rivers merge for some time or flow separately whilst consciously aware of the existence of the other.

The story in itself has a spiritual, philosophical atmosphere to it, a type of metaphor for life itself. Life is a combination of harsh reality and sheer breath-taking moments of tranquillity and beauty. Moments of clarity, epiphanies, and yet skewed with the the painful drudge of daily life.

It's a wonderful read, the author has a beautiful way of making the reader  feel as if they are basking in the comfortable warmth of the sun whilst listening to the sound of leaves rustling and water travelling past. The inevitability, the tragedy, and the unpredictability of life.

Buy Go As A River at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Doubleday pub date 13th April 2023 | Hardback | £14.99. Buy at Amazon com.