"The unnamed resentment I carried with me out the door the day I left. Natalie has been estranged from her family for over 25 years. She needs to see Natalie before she dies. In the present it is 2003 and Nettie is dying from cancer. We relive the past through Natalie and Nettie's memories. River Jordan's arrival seems to be the momentum that begins the change.Īfter River tells it's story flipping between the past and the present. We are tantalized by some future cataclysmic event, that will change the seemingly perfect lives of the Ward family. Milner's masterful use of foreshadowing throughout this novel is never overdone, rather it leaves the reader hungering to follow the story. She wasn't expecting the heartache that would follow like a cold wind". When the need for a new handyman arises, Nettie hires a young American draft dodger - River Jordan. Their lives seem idyllic, both to themselves and to their friends and neighbours. Natalie is happiest within the enclave of her family. Fifteen year old Natalie Ward, her parents -Nettie and Gus and her three brothers live on their dairy farm in a secluded valley. It's summer 1966 in British Columbia, a stone's throw from the U.S. After River by Donna Milner was released by Harper Collins Canada on Friday March 28.
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