Customer Reviews

Wind on the River

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This is the third in a series of short stories that Richard Barre has written to celebrate the holiday season. There's a common theme of hope against all odds, and the redemption of one person's soul.

In Wind on the River, the protagonist is a woman of the late nineteenth century - she's a pioneer in the midwest, struggling to keep her family together, when a stranger appears. What happens next is beautiful, joyous, sad, haunting, and celebratory.

There's not a single wasted word in this story - or in the series if it comes to that - it's just beautifully written, and a rewarding read.

This story of hard choices is etched on the landscape of a
Dakota Territory winter.

Laney is a pioneer wife committed to her invalid husband,
her young daughter, and the son buried in a small grave up
the knoll. Jubal is a lone rider, pursued by Pinkertons,
an outlaw perhaps, a man in search of something worth
dying for.

Their chance meeting - if you believe in chance - can
never be more than a moment in time, but Barre illuminates
the best and worst of human experience by putting his
characters, however briefly, into this crucible.

Laney's description of the stranger who rides up while
she's digging potatoes: "Twin Peacemakers in an oiled
double holster, the butter-colored handle of something
smaller protruding from his belt. Shearling coat with the
collar up, gray wool trousers over the dusted boots and
unroweled spurs. Tooled saddlebags, brass on the buttplate
of his rifle. No farmer, yet something about him that kept
my fear at bay."

That's the kind of character Barre writes so well. As a
die-hard fan of his private eye Wil Hardesty, I see Jubal
as an older, shrewder Wil, weary and disappointed but
always gallant. In the phrase of the day, it's who he is.

WIND ON THE RIVER reminds me of Hamlin Garland's classic
prairie stories "Under the Lion's Paw" and "Turkey Red."
It's 43 pages long, third in Barre's published Christmas
stories, the first two being THE STAR and BETHANY.

Worth buying, worth keeping.

The author has read Shane and can write a lean and hungry story. One of a series of stories set at Christmas time. If you love good writing, get this story.