Where the River Runs (Paperback)

~ (Author) "A sweet, hollow nest below my heart tells me there is more as I stand at the dock's edge where the flowing river rounds the..." (more)
Key Phrases: Keeper's Cottage, Charlotte Hamlon, Tim Oliver (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* With her husband, Beau, busy on a big case and her son away at Vanderbilt, Meridy McFadden Dresden finds herself at loose ends. So when she is asked by a private school to develop a curriculum on the Gullah for Culture Week, Meridy returns to her hometown of Seaboro to do the research, which includes interviewing the family's former housekeeper, Tulu. Soon, these conversations, meant to be a foundation for the curriculum, become lessons in life. Meridy has a dreadful secret, and she knows that if anyone finds out, it could destroy her marriage, not to mention her mother's standing in the community. But if Meridy doesn't face her past, her secret might destroy her. As in Henry's debut, Losing the Moon [BKL My 1 04], and this beautifully written story, the sheer lyricism of the author's voice transports the reader. Fans of such books as Mary Alice Monroe's skyward (2003), also about the Gullah, and Patricia Gaffney's Flight Lessons (2002) will add this book to their list of favorites. Shelley Mosley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

...a novel not so much about what you do as who you are. -- Creative Loafing, Atlanta

...a plot [that] would make a great country-and-western hit.... -- Knoxville News Sentinel

A melodious, encouraging tale that upholds memories, friendship and family. -- Atlanta Woman magazine

Brilliant. Powerful. Magical. Do not miss this book. -- Haywood Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The Red Hat Club

Patti Callahan Henry writes this story from her heart, and creates characters who reach out to us as we read... -- Jackie Cooper, freelance reviewer: The Rockdale Citizen, N ewton County Citizen, Buyers Guide of Houston County, H Magazine of Houston County

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade (May 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451215052
• ISBN-13: 978-0451215055
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #109,016 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional Read and An Outstanding Newer Author, May 6, 2005

By	M. Rondeau (West Springfield, MA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

When she was growing up Meridy McFadden Dresden was a free-spirited, dare devil, fun-loving tomboy. Meridy and her two best friends grew up enjoying and living in the Lowcountry of South Carolina and all through school were inseparable busily charting out a life after college - it was all perfectly planned out. In one terrible moment all those fanciful dreams dissolved and her idyllic existence was changed in a matter of minutes with the death of her best friend killed in a tragic fire the night of their high school graduation. It was a night that changed Meridy's life.

Years later, Meridy is older, wiser and leads what appears to be a charmed life. Married to a handsome successful lawyer, she has a beautiful son with an athletic scholarship to Vanderbilt, the perfect house, and a perfectly scandal free life. Troubled, and looking for answers a trip back home would reopen wounds that had never healed as she discovered that the tragic events of that fateful night and the memories she buried along with her heart and who she was, have come back. With the help of her old Gullah housekeeper Meridy rediscovers pieces of her past and a friend who forces her to confront the pain in order to deal with the challenges she faces in her future as she summons the courage to make a decision that may destroy a life she's worked so hard to protect - including her heart.

*** As I write this review I question whether I can adequately put together the words ample enough to describe just how really great this book was. The beautiful images evoked by this authors lyrical prose and the emotional intensity of feelings she invoked are what separates writers from passable to simply outstanding and it is in this latter category that this relatively new author stands. This is simply an outstanding honest look at one woman's journey of rediscovering who she truly was as she discovered that you can return home again, especially if it means finding the most important things you seem to have lost along the way - like yourself. This is definitely recommended reading for intelligent readers who want to bask themselves in a splendidly lyrical and heart tugging read!

--- Marilyn, for www.allromancewriters.com ----

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another keeper!!, October 10, 2005

By	Busy Mom (Ohio) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I will be the first to admit that I just love these Fiction For the Way We Live series ~~ and this one is definitely one of the best books of this fall!! I have been in a reading slump for a long time ~~ and this book really took me out of it and into a different world. I just love it!!

This book is set in the Lowcountry region between Georgia and South Carolina. The Gullah proverb: "If you don't know where you are going, you should know where you came from" is the basis of this book. Meridy Dresden finds herself at loose ends when her son, BJ, is off at college and her husband, Beau, is immersed in a trial that he has been working on for over two years. Meridy takes a trip home to Seaboro and not only was it a trip home, it was a journey to rediscover that young vibrant girl that she feared had died along with her best friend who died tragically the night they graduated from high school.

Tulu, her former housekeeper and part nanny, shared with Meridy proverbs about the Gullah culture and shared with her some stories to help Meridy find her way back to having peace within her heart. Meridy embarks on that journey with fear and trepidation after all, it could ruin everything she has worked very hard for.

This book is written with lyrical prose and lovely scene-writing ~~ it makes me keep coming back for more. It was a soothing read too ~~ in today's frantic world, this book set a slower pace and made me sit and relax. It is about a woman embarking on self-discovery, her relationship with her mother and sister, best friend and husband. It is enlightening read and very emotional in spots. It is a book that I would recommend to everyone who loves reading this kind of book. It's perfect for those long dark winter nights ahead ~~ the book is set in summer and the warmth of the novel will linger long after the last page has been turned.

10-10-05

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars deep character study, May 4, 2005

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Meridy Dresden is married to her college sweetheart and lives in an upscale home in Atlanta. She experience empty nest syndrome because their only child is at college while her spouse is busy on a case that will make him a partner in a prestigious law firm. She loves her husband, but feels disconnected from him as if their relationship is a façade.

Meridy learns from her mother that her childhood friend Tim is being asked to pay for the reconstruction of Keeper's Cottage; the townsfolk blame him for destroying it on graduation night. She returns to her hometown of Seaboro in the Low Country to set the record straight. While at home, she feels reborn as she opens up for the first since her high school boyfriend died. Now Meridy believes she owes her husband the truth about her life before him and prays he accepts and loves the real Meridy.

WHERE THE RIVER RUNS stars a beautiful woman who seems to have it all, but feels empty and only going through the motion of living. In returning to her home town, Meridy concludes that she must face all the aspects of her past that she buried even from herself if she is to become a whole person again. Fans of Anne River Siddens will want to read Patti Callahan Henry's deep character study.

Harriet Klausner