Cold Rock River: A Novel (Paperback)

by J. L. Miles (Author)
Key Phrases: speculator man, corn likker, little chilluns, Willa Mae, Grace Annie, Margaret Mary (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
A compelling story you won't want to miss! Well told and deeply true to its time and place. -- Haywood Smith, author of The Red Hat Club

An intricate novel about the mysterious ways we are all connected... -- Patti Callahan Henry, best-selling author of When Light Breaks

Beautifully told and straight from the heart of an exquisitely talented writer. -- Dorothea Benton Frank

Skillfully constructed and beautifully told... -- Sandra Kring, author of The Book of Bright Ideas and Carry Me Home

The journey of two young brides...from sensitive adolescence to women of substance...makes for a very fine recipe. -- Earl Hamner, bestselling author and creator of The Waltons --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

In 1963 rural Georgia, with the Vietnam War cranking up, pregnant seventeen-year-old Adie Jenkins discovers the diary of pregnant seventeen-year-old Tempe Jordan, a slave girl, begun as the Civil War was winding down. Adie is haunted by the memory of her dead sister; Tempe is overcome with grief over the sale of her three children sired by her master. Adie--married to Buck, her baby's skirt-chasing father--is unprepared for marriage and motherhood. She spends her days with new baby Grace. Buck spends his with the conniving vamp Imelda Jane.

Adie welcomes the friendship of midwife Willa Mae Satterfield. Having grown close to her after Grace's birth, she confides that her baby sister, Annie, survived choking on a jelly bean only to drown in Cold Rock River a few months later. Willa Mae says, "My two little chillins George and Calvin drowns in that river too." What she won't say is who and why.

Adie takes refuge in Tempe's journal. It tells an amazing tale:

When "the freedom" comes, Tempe sets out to find her children but never finds them, and she settles in Macon, Georgia, where she meets Tom Barber, a former slave from a Savannah plantation. They marry and have a daughter nicknamed Heart, and though she's "a bit slow in the head," they adore her. Tom is good to Tempe, and she remains by his side, ever faithful, until she discovers something she can't live with--a truth so devastating she vows never to speak of it again.

Adie continues to pore over Tempe's diary, which seems to raise more questions than it answers. After Tom is killed in a drunken brawl, Tempe takes Heart to north Georgia, settling on a small patch of land and taking up midwifery to support them both. Eventually she marries an elderly neighbor and gives birth to two more children, Georgia and Calvin. Adie is filled with questions. Could Willa Mae be Heart? Could the children in the diary have been hers? How--and why--did they drown? And is it possible that the man who owns the house in which she lives is Willa Mae's grandson?

As Cold Rock River comes to its surprising, shocking ending, questions of family, race, love, loss, and longing are loosed from the mysterious secrets that have been kept for too long--and the depth of the mysterious connection between two women united by place and separated by race and a hundred years is revealed.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581826680
• ISBN-13: 978-1581826685
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #41,337 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking and mesmeric, March 21, 2007

By	Reader Views "www.readerviews.com" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cold Rock River (Hardcover)

Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (2/07)

Adie Jenkins will always be haunted by the death of her youngest sister. "What happened changed all of us. But Uncle Burleigh said, `Didn't change ya, it ruined ya,' `You won't never be the same,' he added, `not none of you's.' I hate to give that old codger credit, but turns out he was right. None of us was the same -not ever."

When Buck Jenkins moved to town, Adie was determined to catch his eye. Buck thought he looked a lot like Elvis. He even had Elvis hair. "It was shoe-polish black" and he had a habit of using his palms to slick it back. Sixteen-year-old Adie was two years his junior and thoroughly besotted.

When the couple was married they moved to Hog Gap with his mother, Verna. "Buck didn't keep a job long enough to get us any money, and he gave most of what he made each week to Verna for groceries." It was almost time for the baby to be born when Imelda Jane came into their lives.

Buck and Adie rent a small house and Willa Mae comes into their lives. Willa Mae was a midwife. An old journal bound in cracked brown leather went everywhere with her. The journal told the story of Tempe, a female slave at the beginning of the Civil War, overcome with grief when her master sells her three children. Adie retreats into the journal as she struggles to raise her own child, Grace Annie, cope with a "skirt chasing husband," and come to terms with the death, many years before of her baby sister.

"My Mammy say, `You gots to stir dat pot of sadness up real good,' she say. ` and keeps it stirred so the happy times don't git lost in dat stew. `Cause you gwine eat dat stew for all your life. See da good part in dat stew? Eat all dat up and keeps doing dat.' She do, she say dat. Willa Mae said, her face full of pride."

"Cold Rock River" by J.L. Miles is set in the early Vietnam era. Ms. Miles successfully depicts southern history, intolerance, slavery, and relationships. The characters are so real and believable that they draw you into the story; they become a part of you. From the first page you know you can't put the book down until you read every page. The plot has some unforeseen twists. There were times when I found myself laughing out loud and times when I was reaching for the tissues. This book is sure to please! I highly recommend this book to women that enjoy really good fiction.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and Riveting, December 2, 2006

By	K. E. Jhung "Mermaid" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Cold Rock River (Hardcover)

I was blown away by J.L. Miles' first book, Roseflower Creek, so I had to buy Cold Rock River in hard cover.

I am so glad I did. Reading this book renewed my faith that some writers are truly gifted.

I could not put this book down. Miles' characterization and development made me feel like I was living the lives of her multi-faceted characters. The way she deals with Southern history, racism, slavery, marriage, relationships, and other crucial elements, is riveting and brilliant.

You will not be disappointed if you read this book. I can't wait for her next.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars J L Miles has done it again!, November 8, 2006

By	Dennis H. Christen (Beverly Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Cold Rock River (Hardcover)

"Cold Rock River" ripped me apart. From the first sentence, no, from the first word to the very last.
Ms. Miles - It was so fun to spend that time with your characters. I thought your first book, "Roseflower Creek" was a touch of class, but this one? Well, a wheelbarrow full of class comes to mind. You stopped me in my tracks.