After River: A Novel - Softcover

Milner, Donna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061463019 ISBN 13: 9780061463013

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2009

Synopsis

Before River, everything was perfect. . . .

Growing up on a Canadian dairy farm less than two miles from the American border, fifteen-year-old Natalie Ward knows little of the outside world. But her loving, close-knit family is the envy of young and old alike in the nearby town of Atwood. Natalie adores her three brothers—especially Boyer, the eldest, whom she idolizes. But everything changes one hot July afternoon in 1966 when a long-haired stranger appears at their door—a soft-spoken American, a Vietnam War resister, who will test the family's morals and beliefs, and set in motion catastrophic events that will shatter Natalie's relationships with those she most dearly loves.

About this title

About the Author:

Donna Jonas Milner lives with her husband in British Columbia. After River is her first novel.

From School Library Journal:

Adult/High School—This novel with multiple voices chronicles different points in a woman's life. The main narrative follows Natalie Ward, who leads a charmed life in Prince George, BC, during the 1960s. It is only a matter of time before reality interferes with the idyllic. The political uncertainty of the era comes knocking on her family's door in the form of a draft resister, Richard "River" Jordan. His resistance to the war in Vietnam causes tension on the Ward homestead. The plot moves somewhat predictably through Natalie's relationship with him, as well as her changing relationships with her brothers and parents as she moves toward adulthood. What begins as a vivid picture of the turbulence of the period devolves somewhat into a problem novel with a historical backdrop. The consequences of war, homosexuality, and early promiscuity are explored through Natalie's eyes, but the details seem almost trite. Teens might enjoy the depiction of Natalie's early life in the 1960s, but they may be turned off by other narrative threads, especially that of the adult Natalie, now grown and alienated from some of her family, dealing with her dying mother's illness. Milner's novel will appeal to teens who have raided their parents' shelves for psychological, plot-driven fiction by writers such as Sue Miller or Anita Shreve.—Caitlin Fralick, Ottawa Public Library, ON
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About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0061463019
• ISBN 13: 9780061463013
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352