![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Review of The River Wife
May. 20th, 2008 09:42 amLast night I got lazy and, instead of writing, I finished reading Jonis Agee's new novel The River Wife
. This is a historical novel that I think will appeal to science fiction fans.
The story is a multi-layered one, centered on the events in Jacques' Landing, Missouri, during the period 1811 - 1950. Jacques Ducharme, a French trapper, came to the area a few days after the great New Madrid earthquake of 1812. There he finds a sixteen-year-old girl, Annie Lark, pinned under a roof beam in her collapsed house and abandoned by her family. He rescues her, which sets of a long series of interesting events.
While the various past events are being recounted, Hedie Rails Ducharme, pregnant and seventeen, is dealing with being married to Jacques' grandson, Clement, who's running booze during Prohibition. Thanks to the skillful work of Ms. Agee, the past and present is skillfully interweaved, creating an interesting story.
The Ducharme clan have a tendency to just shack up with each other vs. go to the church and marry, and Jacques himself is more then a little bit crooked, so there's quite a bit of drama and conflict. There's a hint of a ghost in the story, but this is really more of a straight historical drama. I found it quite enjoyable.
. This is a historical novel that I think will appeal to science fiction fans.The story is a multi-layered one, centered on the events in Jacques' Landing, Missouri, during the period 1811 - 1950. Jacques Ducharme, a French trapper, came to the area a few days after the great New Madrid earthquake of 1812. There he finds a sixteen-year-old girl, Annie Lark, pinned under a roof beam in her collapsed house and abandoned by her family. He rescues her, which sets of a long series of interesting events.
While the various past events are being recounted, Hedie Rails Ducharme, pregnant and seventeen, is dealing with being married to Jacques' grandson, Clement, who's running booze during Prohibition. Thanks to the skillful work of Ms. Agee, the past and present is skillfully interweaved, creating an interesting story.
The Ducharme clan have a tendency to just shack up with each other vs. go to the church and marry, and Jacques himself is more then a little bit crooked, so there's quite a bit of drama and conflict. There's a hint of a ghost in the story, but this is really more of a straight historical drama. I found it quite enjoyable.
