River of Hidden Dreams [Paperback]

Connie May Fowler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 1995

"HEARTBREAKING...COMPELLING...The story carries you like a slow, implacable current."
--San Francisco Chronicle
Forty-something Sadie Hunter is a loner. But more than that, she is afraid of not being alone. Ever since her mother and Native American grandmother died together when she was a child, dancing cheek-to-cheek in a saloon in the middle of a violent storm, Sadie hasn't let anyone get too close. Not even Carlos, a passionate Cuban who sees the rich soul that Sadie tries to hide from herself.
Cynical and loveless, she becomes obsessed with learning more about her unacknowledged identity, torn apart by tragic family legends she can't quite believe. And although she tries to fight it, she half suspects that with Carlos's help, she could find the truth of the past, and it could set her free....
"A fluid, fun read--a story of self-discovery told by a woman haunted by female forebears while struggling to learn love....A work of accomplished introspection."
--The Philadelphia Inquirer

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The power of stories and myths to shape our lives is the leitmotif of Fowler's second novel, as it was in her well-received Sugar Cage , but this novel lacks the vibrancy and distinctive narrative voice that made the earlier book so memorable. This is the chronicle of a troubled woman's journey to find herself, a voyage both emotional and physical. Like her grandmother and mother, Sadie Hunter shuns permanent emotional commitment, a family pattern that began when her grandmother repudiated her parents, Plains Indians who had been held captive in Florida, to live instead with a white woman who adopted her. An affair with a young black man resulted in the birth of a mulatto daughter, Sadie's mother. As ethnic outsiders, both women passed on to Sadie a need for independence and psychological distance. Pressured by her passionate Cuban lover to acknowledge her need for him, Sadie eventually travels the waterways from Key West to her native St. Augustine, and during the odyssey she begins to understand the meaning of her family legends. Central to the plot are a "magic" chicken named Miss Raison, the mummified body of a baby discovered in a floating casket, a visit from St. Christopher and a sacred white alligator with sapphire eyes. These visitations do not lift the story to a higher level, however; the bland narrative holds few surprises. Rhapsodic descriptions of Florida's natural landscape are welcome, but bad-tempered, mercurial Sadie and her stubborn forebears do not elicit the reader's sympathy or interest. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Sadie Hunter earns her modest living taking tourists on boat trips around Key West. If she is in the mood, she will entertain them with fascinating stories learned from her mother and grandmother, who both perished in a storm when Sadie was a child. Over the course of many trips, she spins the romantic tale of her Plains Indian grandmother's doomed love for her grandfather, a mulatto in St. Augustine, and her eventual return to him late in life. Although Sadie's stories sing with passion and intrigue, Sadie herself, at 42, seems like an annoying, self-centered adolescent, endlessly trying to understand why she can't commit to her Cuban boyfriend. Read Fowler's ( Sugar Cage , LJ 10/15/91) novel for its lovely, graceful tales of a South now vanished, full of magic, charms, and folklore. Recommended for most collections.
- Patricia Ross, Westerville P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 334 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (May 10, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449983633
• ISBN-13: 978-0449983638
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #880,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Connie May Fowler is an award-winning novelist, memoirist, and screenwriter. Grand Central Publishing will publish her most recent novel, How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly, April 2, 2010. She is the author of six other books: five critically acclaimed novels and one memoir. Her novels include Sugar Cage, River of Hidden Dreams, The Problem with Murmur Lee, Remembering Blue--recipient of the Chautauqua South Literary Award--and Before Women had Wings--recipient of the 1996 Southern Book Critics Circle Award and the Francis Buck Award from the League of American Pen Women. Three of her novels have been Dublin International Literary Award nominees. Ms. Fowler adapted Before Women had Wings for Oprah Winfrey. The result was an Emmy-winning film starring Ms. Winfrey and Ellen Barkin. In 2002 she published When Katie Wakes, a memoir that explores her descent and escape from an abusive relationship. Her work has been translated into 18 languages and is published worldwide. Her essays have been published in the New York Times, London Times, International Herald Tribune, Japan Times, Slate, Oxford American, Best Life, and elsewhere. For two years she wrote "Savoring Florida," a culinary and culture column for FORUM, a publication of the Florida Humanities Council. In 2007, Ms. Fowler performed in New York City at The Player's Club with actresses Kathleen Chalfont, Penny Fuller and others in an adaptation based on The Other Woman, an anthology that contains her essay "The Uterine Blues." In 2003, Ms. Fowler performed in The Vagina Monologues alongside Jane Fonda and Rosie Perez in a production that raised over $100,000 for charity. She is currently working on her next project, a novel titled Euphrates in Paradise. In addition to writing, Ms. Fowler has held numerous jobs including bartender, food caterer, nurse, television producer, TV show host, antique peddler, and construction worker. From 1997-2003 she directed the Connie May Fowler Women Wings Foundation, an organization dedicated to aiding women and children in need. From 2003-2007 she served as the Irving Bacheller Professor of Creative Writing at Rollins College and directed their award-winning visiting author series Winter With the Writers. Ms. Fowler travels the country, speaking on topics such as writing, self-employment in the arts, literacy, domestic violence, child abuse, environmental issues, and popular culture. She teaches writing workshops and seminars globally and is the founder of Below Sea Level: Full Immersion Workshops for Serious Writers. She is a Florida native.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moving on, via the past, July 20, 2000

By 

"judithb" - See all my reviews

This review is from: River of Hidden Dreams (Paperback)

I seem to be working my way backwards through Connie May Fowler's list, after serendipitiously finding "Before Women Had Wings". Ms Fowler certainly has a gift with opening paragraphs - I usually give a novel 10 pages to hook me, but both of these books had me well and truely landed after one paragraph.

Sadie is a feisty, 40ish, tour guide in the Florida Everglades, but her real vocation is that of a story teller. She finds her captive audiences among those chartering her elderly but regal boat, the product of an almost unbearably steadfast love, inherited from her mother and grandmother after their amazingly unlucky deaths when she was nine.

Sadie is unconditionally loved by Carlos, an accidental and unwilling Cuban refugee, who has an endless tolerance for her headstrong and stubborn behaviour, and her complete unwillingness to commit to anything.

Sadie's struggle to come to terms with her own life is beautifully entwined with the stories of "her women", as their their stubborn strength and fortitude emerges though a series of dreams and childhood rememberances. We are drawn back to the times of newly emancipated slaves and Native Americans torn from their homelands (realising that was not so many generations ago), and are given a grand tour of the Everglades and the Florida coast. But mostly we are taken on a trip through love in many of its forms - unrequited, unconditional, uncompromising, enduring - as Sadie learns to love herself and allow herself to be cherished.

I recommend this book highly and I'm looking forward to reading more from this fine writer.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A book that takes you away with it . . ., July 12, 1999

By 

Diane J. Trautweiler "I cheated on my fears, ... (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: River of Hidden Dreams (Paperback)

River of Hidden Dreams is Connie May Fowler's second book, and it is also the second book I have read of hers.

River of Hidden dreams is very picturesque in georgraphical description, rich in history (in particular, with the Native Americans), and full of emotion.

Sadie is afraid to get close to anyone, to let her guard down, and to love and be loved. She lost her beloved grandmother, Mima, and her mother when she was young. They died together, while they were dancing, when a hurricane hit and the roof caved in, killing them. Sadie was a young girl, and never got over the loss. All she had to keep her company were stories passed down from Mima and Mama, a regal boat the grandfather (Mr. Sammy) she never got to meet, built, and an old quilt her mother and grandmother had sewn.

This piognant story traces Mima, as well as Mr. Sammy's life, and then touches a bit on her mother's. It tells of how Mima was taken from her family and stripped of her Native American heritage when a wealty woman named Miss Alice adopted her and lavished her with the finer things in life.

Mr. Sammy, a warm-hearted mulatto, had befriended, and fallen in love with Susannah (Mima) for the second time (he had laid eyes on her briefly once before in passing, and her face haunted him until their second meeting) when she had fainted in a church. Soon, a whirlwind romance had gotten started, until circumstances had changed.

Sadie is haunted, not knowing if the stories she was told as a child by Mima and Mama were true or just fabrications. She had brothers and a father she had never met, and now she had a loving Cuban named Carlos, who wouldn't abandon her, no matter how high her walls were.

This is a story about Sadie finding herself, allowing herself to love Carlos and to be loved by him, and to revist her past to see if those lovely fables her grandmother uttered had any thread of truth to them.

Connie May Fowler tells the aching story from Sadie's point of view, and when Sadie thinks back to her past, those historic fables are told in Mima's and Mr. Sammy's voice -- illustrting the rich emotions running through three generations of women.

This is a wonderful story, and the only complaint I have is the ending. There was so many loose ties. There was a fleeting moment of Sadie thinking about the brothers she had never known. Did she try to find them? What else did she find out about her past? What kind of future was Carlos and Sadie jumping into?

Besides the loose ends during the conclusion of the story, the rest of the book was highly enjoyable. Connie May Fowler proves to be one of the most talented and gifted writers of our time.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Book! I'm looking forward to reading more., February 8, 1999

By 

Nancy ([e-mail]) (Atlanta, Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: River of Hidden Dreams (Paperback)

This is the first novel I've read by Connie May Fowler and I enjoyed it thoroughly. She gives an excellent sense of place. If you like the earlier works of Barbara Kingsolver, you will like this book. Fowler brings to life the Gulf Coast area like Kingsolver does the American Southwest. I felt like I was sitting on a Gulf of Mexico shore.

The story also drew me in. The sweet but troubled romance mixed with narratives from a very racist era in our past make for thought provoking reading. Fowler offers us a close perspective on issues our culture still tries to ignore. Not to mention the book is just plain hard-to-put-down.

Thanks, Connie May Fowler, for writing such a good book.