Warwick’s + SDWF Book Club – “Go as a River” with Shelley Read

National Bestseller

“An auspicious debut.”—Kirkus (starred review)

“Shelley Read’s lyrical voice is a force of nature, and when she lends it to a woman leading a hardscrabble life in rural Colorado, the result is tragic, uplifting—and completely unforgettable.”—Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry

Rights Sold in 30 Territories * March Indie Next Pick * Apple Books, Most Anticipated Books of 2023 * Barnes & Noble, Most Anticipated Books of March * Barnes & Noble, Exclusive Edition * Amazon, Editors’ Pick * Publishers Marketplace, Buzz Books Editors Panel Pick * Zibby Magazine, Most Anticipated Books of 2023 * Thoughts From A Page, Most Anticipated Historical Fiction of 2023 * Book Girls Guide, Best Book Club Books for 2023 * Real Simple, Best Books of 2023

“Affecting.”—Publishers Weekly

“Beautiful . . . A striking first novel of love and strength and growth, set against the forests and rivers of Colorado’s high country. Read is a gifted writer, and the book is a literary triumph.”―Denver Post

“With gorgeous descriptions of the great outdoors, an illicit love story, and an unforgettable protagonist, Go as a River offers something for everyone.”―Real Simple

“Evocative . . . moving . . . fascinating. . . .Through lush imagery of the natural world, GO AS A RIVER shows the possibility of growing in the most challenging of circumstances, the power that flows through us, and how the natural world can give us the strength to keep on going.”―The i Paper

“In this lyrical debut novel, a “small fateful twist” overtakes an isolated young woman seeking the courage and resilience to keep flowing forward, as a river, against all obstacles, in post-WWII Colorado… Read, a fifth-generation Coloradan, draws characters and settings with period authenticity, stunning imagery, and deft metaphors.”—Booklist

“GO AS A RIVER is a stunning debut set in the soul of the American dream.”—Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The Good Left Undone

“Completely spellbinding, vivid, and luminous.”—Jane Green, bestselling author of Sister Stardust

“In GO AS A RIVER, Shelley Read delivers a heartbreaking and uplifting tale of a girl becoming a woman in a man’s world. Young Victoria Nash is as tough and resilient as the Colorado mountains where she takes refuge, and as tender as the peaches that are her family legacy.”—Tiffany Quay Tyson, author of The Past Is Never

“Shelley Read’s devastatingly beautiful debut, GO AS A RIVER, delivers so very much: the tenderness and curiosity of young love, the eternal pangs of loss, the brutality of racism, the sustaining power of nature even in the face of man’s destruction, and the precarious miracle of a mother’s love. Suffused with wisdom and compassion, this shattering testimony to life is one to be savored, treasured, shared.”—Meg Waite Clayton, bestselling author of The Postmistress of Paris

“This soaring, compassionate tale of female resilience is set against a breath-taking picture of our natural world—its trees and mountains and light.”—The Independent (UK)

Set amid Colorado’s wild beauty, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story of a resilient young woman whose life is changed forever by one chance encounter. A tragic and uplifting novel of love and loss, family, and survival—and hope—for readers of Great Circle, The Four Winds, and Where the Crawdads Sing.

Seventeen-year-old Victoria Nash runs the household on her family’s peach farm in the small ranch town of Iola, Colorado—the sole surviving female in a family of troubled men. Wilson Moon is a young drifter with a mysterious past, displaced from his tribal land and determined to live as he chooses. 

Victoria encounters Wil by chance on a street corner, a meeting that profoundly alters their young lives, unknowingly igniting as much passion as danger. When tragedy strikes, Victoria leaves the only life she has ever known. She flees into the surrounding mountains, where she struggles to survive in the wilderness, with no clear notion of what her future will bring. As the seasons change, she also charts the changes in herself, finding in the beautiful but harsh landscape the meaning and strength to move forward and rebuild all that she has lost, even as the Gunnison River threatens to submerge her homeland—its ranches, farms, and the beloved peach orchard that has been in her family for generations. 

Read is a fifth-generation Coloradan who received her MFA in her twenties but then went on to teach literature and environmental studies and raise two kids. Now in her 50s, she finally returned to the novel she’d started many years ago. She writes:

“This novel gets at the heart of what is most valuable to me and what I think the world needs now: a strong connection to nature, a belief in love, and a deep faith in personal resilience. I hope that my novel will leave readers exploring some of the relevant issues of our time—displacement, prejudice, and notions of progress; the value of women, mothers, and the natural world; resilience in the face of adversity; and, of course, the extraordinary power of love.”

Inspired by true events surrounding the destruction of the town of Iola in the 1960s, GO AS A RIVER is a story of deeply held love in the face of hardship and loss, but also of finding courage, resilience, friendship, and, finally, home—where least expected.

Shelley Read is a fifth-generation Coloradoan who lives with her family in the Elk Mountains of the Western Slope. She was a senior lecturer at Western Colorado University for nearly three decades, where she taught writing, literature, environmental studies, and Honors, and was a founder of the Environment & Sustainability major and a support program for first-generation and at-risk students. Shelley holds degrees in writing and literary studies from the University of Denver and Temple University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing. She is a regular contributor to Crested ButteMagazine and Gunnison Valley Journal and has written for the Denver Post and a variety of publications. Go As A River is her first novel, and is being published in 30 territories around the globe. ShelleyRead.com