Book Review: Go as a River

A beautiful historical novel written by Shelley Read, Go as a River explores grief, motherhood and friendship through 17 year old Victoria. 

Victoria runs her household after losing her mother on a small ranch in Colorado. Surrounded by troubled men it comes with its mishaps. When Wilson comes on the scene with a mysterious past he is determined to choose a new life. When they both encounter each other as young teenagers over the years their love turns into more than friendship. When a tragedy arises, Victoria feels like she has no other option to leave and go to the mountains. As she struggles to survive in the wild she doesn't know what is set in stone for the future. As the seasons change, she may too. 

This is a moving story which is inspired by true events around the town of Iola in the 1960’s. It depicts strength and moving forward despite struggles that have spiked throughout this young girl's life. Having the history intertwined within the story was hard hitting in some parts. 

The 2023 novel was immersive and descriptive which lulled you into this life on a ranch with Victoria, I could feel myself there. I did read this on holiday, maybe it was the sun but it was very fitting and appropriate. 

A topic that ran throughout this story was navigating through womanhood. After losing her mother and taking on that role as a young girl you could see the sacrifices she had to make to keep her fathers and brothers life as normal as it could be. Obviously with the time it was set, it was a given that this was expected from her. 

When she meets Wilson this is where the story truly starts. Going against odds with the ugliness of racism being at the height of the town it created a forbidden love. A love that Victoria held to herself and those feelings that were made were destroyed due to society's outrage. For myself this was soul destroying, building this relationship to lead to a tragic moment only ended up being a small part of this book. Everything that came after was where she truly flourished as a person. 

Womanhood and motherhood were crucial in showing her grow up into the woman she builds herself to be. It was sad but also you wanted to cheer her on for wanting better and learning these obstacles on her own. If this story isn't the epitome of girl power I don't know what is. 

This story is a slow burner but the journey from start to finish was something to learn from; to choose your flow. It was empowering to be a woman and read this and I thank Read for this. 

I rate this 4.5/5 stars.