This River Awakens

In the spring of 1971, Owen Brand and his family move to the riverside town of Middlecross, trying to escape poverty. For twelve-year-old Owen, it's the opportunity for a new life. He quickly falls in with three local boys and forms a strong bond with Jennifer, the rebellious daughter of a violent, alcoholic father.

When summer brings release from school, two figures preside over the boys' activities: Walter Gribbs, the benign old watchman at the yacht club, and Hodgson Fisk, a vindictive farmer tormented by his past. Then the boys stumble on a body washed up on the riverbank―and the reverberations of this discover will result in a cataclysm that envelops them all….

Published for the first time in the United States, from the acclaimed author of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, Steven Erikson's This River Awakens, is a lyrical, tender, and disturbing portrayal of a rite of passage that is both harsh and revelatory.

Archaeologist and anthropologist STEVEN ERIKSON's debut fantasy novel, Gardens of the Moon, was short-listed for the World Fantasy Award and introduced fantasy readers to his epic Malazan Book of the Fallen sequence, which has been hailed "a masterwork of the imagination." This River Awakens was his first novel, and originally published under the name Steve Lundin. He lives in Canada.