As If I Were A River
Kate has a safe, happy, ordinary existence. Or so she thinks. When her husband Jimmy goes missing she is forced to re-evaluate every aspect of her life, and must confront the past to find a future. Kate hasn‘t seen her mother, Laura, for 25 years, and she cannot seek solace from her estranged father. Can Una, her paternal grandmother, provide answers about those who have seemingly abandoned her, and help her come to terms with the loss of those she loves?
‘As If I Were a River’ is the emotional story of three generations of women and the impact of their actions upon each other…and themselves. It is a story of buried secrets, and of finding the courage to question the life you lead. Are we forever shaped by our past, or can we find redemption in making our own future?
As the début novel for Amanda Saint, I was unsure what to expect when I picked this one up. Her writing style is simplistic but efficient, it is the characters that tell the story in this book without the typical preamble and purple prose.
Life changes completely for Kate following the disappearance of her husband Jimmy one night, she struggles to cope with his absence, which in turn forces her to face her issues with abandonment – her mother left when she was a child, Kate never knew why. In order to move forward, Kate has to address the secrets that surround her mother’s mysterious reappearance.
Written from the perspectives of the three female characters, each generation reveals more about their own tale with every chapter. All of the tales are then neatly woven together to form a thought provoking story.
Kate is an odd character, in the sense that in the beginning it is hard to feel much emotion or attachment towards her, spending most of her time drunk or stoned she came across as very self indulgent. However, as the story progressed I felt empathy for her plight and deeply wanted things to stop spiralling out of control for her.
