"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"Read delicately unfurls the growing attraction between Torie and Wil, set against vicious bigotry toward Native Americans. Their love is the "small fateful twist" that forever changes the trajectory of Torie's life. With delicate precision, Read evokes both Colorado's rugged wilderness and the landscapes of her characters' troubled hearts. An auspicious debut."
–Kirkus (starred review)"Shelley Read creates a truly convincing and lovable character in Torie, who faces loss and despair, and has to make a decision which is driven by love, yet tragic for herself. It's a captivating novel, impossible to put down and one which will be remembered long after reading it."
–Irish Examiner"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)
"Lyrical . . . Read, a fifth-generation Coloradan, draws characters and settings with period authenticity, stunning imagery, and deft metaphors."–Booklist
"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
"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, author of Lessons in Chemistry
"Shelley Read has written a splendid American Gothic tale of a young woman broken by circumstances who must find a way to forgive before she can love. Victoria Nash is a character for the ages as she navigates loss and despair on the road to redemption. The vast plains and desert canyons of her Colorado home are filled with ghosts until a mysterious drifter arrives and changes the course of her life forever. Go as a River is a stunning debut set in the soul of the American dream."–Adriana Trigiani, author of The Good Left Undone
"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. Book clubs will love this redemptive story."–Tiffany Quay Tyson, author of The Past Is Never
"Completely spellbinding, vivid, and luminous."–Jane Green, author of Sister Stardust
"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, internationally bestselling author of The Postmistress of Paris
