Her brother’s letter touched a match to the wick of Annie’s doused dreams. Dream enough for her, to stroll the length of a town without the abortive glances, the stilted greetings, the wider berth given her on the sidewalk. “I could use some help out here,” he wrote. “What’s holding you to Iowa anyway?”Annie Rushton leaves behind an unsettling past to join her brother on his Montana homestead and … Montana homestead and make a determined fresh start. There, sparks fly when she tangles with Adam Fielding, a visionary businessman-farmer determined to make his own way and answer to no one. Neither is looking for a partner, but they give in to their undeniable chemistry.
Annie and Adam’s marriage brims with astounding success and unanticipated passion, but their dream of having a child eludes them as a mysterious illness of mind and body plagues Annie’s pregnancies. Amidst deepening economic adversity, natural disaster, and the onset of world war, their personal struggles collide with the societal mores of the day. Annie’s shattering periods of black depression and violent outbursts exact a terrible price. The life the Fieldings have forged begins to unravel, and the only path ahead leads to unthinkable loss.
Based on true events, this sweeping novel weaves a century-old story, timeless in its telling of love, heartbreak, healing, and redemption embodied in one woman’s tenacious quest for control over her own destiny in the face of devastating misfortune and social injustice.
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I can’t remember the last time I read a novel of such sweeping proportion of EMOTION (it will plummet you to the depths and then buoy you straight up again); TIME (it spans decades), and LANDSCAPE (the Big Sky country of Montana and Alberta). How the author was able to nail the details, including vernacular, of the homestead period boggles my mind. Further, this engaging tale is based on true events—amazing! I’m confident that this five-star read will captivate your heart as well. I loved THE RIVER BY STARLIGHT and highly recommend it.
This is an enthralling saga of a strong and talented woman struggling with pregnancy related psychosis in the early 20th century. The settings are vividly portrayed, replete with historical details of what life in that era and the characters are unforgettable as they fall in love and then suffer through tragedy. Through it all, the will to persevere ultimately shines through.
Exquisite! I loved this book: beautiful, stunning prose on every page; complex, well-drawn characters; suspenseful plot; and a compelling tale transporting the reader to rural Montana in the early twentieth century. Annie is a wonderful protagonist, a powerful, strong-willed woman who suffers from severe postpartum psychosis, with tragic consequences. A poignant novel, with extraordinary emotional depth, tough to read in some places, but Annie’s resilience carries her through. Full of fascinating historical details without being over-burdened by the author’s extensive research, this novel offers insights into the stigma of mental illness, which still has resonance today. A stunning debut!
This is a masterpiece of a book, one that stays on your mind, causes you to lose sleep, and then keeps you thinking about it for days afterward. The main character, Annie, is tossed around by the winds of life. Some are light breezes, but most are horrific storms. She suffers tragedy after tragedy, enough to topple even the strongest of souls. But Annie shines through. She rises like the Phoenix out of the ashes of her troubled life and in the end, she finds not only answers but a place of love, safety, and peace. At times, I felt ripped in two by the suffering. I cried for Annie, and when at last she rose to take her place with the man she loved, I cried again, but with tears of joy. This book is a masterpiece, truly one that will stay with you long after you’ve finished it. And you catch yourself thinking about Annie and her life for days afterward. Do I recommend this book? Highly. It is a 5-star work of art.
Gorgeous prose and authentic dialogue, Notbohm’s “The River by Starlight” is a must-read! Thoroughly enjoyed and did not want it to end!!!
“The evening star, multiplied by undulating water, like bright sparks of fire continually ascending.” The River by Starlight, from the Journal of Henry David Thoreau, June 15, 1852
Annie made the quilt for her future husband, for his eyes only.
There was a block with a sliver of chrome orange moon and a fabric with a chrome yellow shower of stars. The twilight sky was represented with a dark sapphire with a swirl of white dots and a cadet blue shot with white. At the bottom curved a river in green fabric. She called it River By Starlight.
In 1911 Annie Rushton had received a letter from her older brother Cal, inviting her to come to Montana where he had settled. At age 26, Annie was living with her mother after postpartum psychosis destroyed her marriage and separated her from her baby daughter.
Annie hopes that Montana will bring the freedom she craves and the new beginning she desperately needs. Annie travels light, only taking her ivory knitting needles, her Emily Dickinson inscribed “with everlasting love” by her ex-husband, and her grandmother’s rose glass jar.
She never expected that Montana would bring a man who would claim her, body and soul, or imagine the ecstasy and the crippling pain and loss their love would endure, driving Annie to a desperate choice.
Ellen Notbohm’s novel The River by Starlight is based on true events which she spent years researching. Notbohm wanted to give voice to the women, who a hundred years ago and with few resources, suffered mental health issues in a male-dominated health and justice system.
Annie is an amazing character, strong and feisty, quick-witted and quick-tempered. I loved the dialogue between the characters. Although Annie suffers many losses, she also is resilient and a survivor. The misunderstandings between men and women and the compromises they make ring true. The writing is gorgeous.
Readers will be swept back in time and won’t soon forget the vivid characters.
I received a free book through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
This was a cannot-put-down read for me! This Is not a love story, but there are stories of love within. It is not a thriller, yet there is so much suspense and action. It is historical fiction at its best: A well-written novel which can make a character from long ago seem contemporary simply by focusing on the human condition and the often messiness of living. Instead of feeling separated by decades or centuries, I am brought closer to a protagonist and get a visceral sense of their emotions. In the case of Annie, I loved her complexity and fallibility and the way she scrutinized herself and those around her with a mixture of acceptance and cynicism. Ellen Notbohm writes with such artistry that fights and conflicts read as beautifully as scenes of love-making and tenderness. And, speaking of the latter, she turns what could otherwise be a subtle, insignificant gesture, such as touching one’s face or moving through a room, into a bold statement of a character’s insecurities and frustrations. I also was impressed with Notbohm’s ability to portray both female and male characters with such realism, adjusting dialogue and descriptions of facial expression and body language for each with finesse.
Only a few times in the past decade have I loved a book this much. Author Ellen Notbohm’s language is so delicious that I’d re-read lines just to savor her verbal concoctions all over again. Truly beautiful writing, a fascinating storyline & incredibly memorable characters. If I could give this book even more stars, I would.
This is a good, sink-your-teeth-into, old-fashioned historical fiction saga with a heroine who undergoes peril after peril as she struggles to emerge victorious in her life as a woman in a time often baffled by the fine points of her gender. The novel illustrates the tragedy of her central issue—post-partum depression and hormonal issues around pregnancy –at a time when it was interpreted as madness. Beyond this, however, there is a rip- roaring seven introductory chapters that beautifully set the scene and introduce the indefatigable Annie and her more-than-a-match Adam—a surprisingly modern couple with a connection that is tested beyond the pale. These characters are wonderful together and you miss that as the novel wanders away from them as a couple, and through another relationship intended to be parallel that seems forced, along with too many symbols that underline the obvious. Notbohm’s two main characters are strong enough to carry the narrative on their own. A story that will fascinate and infuriate you, as well as make you count your blessings we’ve come so far since this not all that distant past.
READING PROGRESS
The River by Starlight is a tale told in the early 1900s to the mid 1900s. It tells of the hardships of people that lived during that time, dealing with mental illness, whooping cough, financial hardship, farming ups and downs, and marriage between two volatile people.
Analiese Rushton lives in Iowa, but longs to leave and live with her brother, Cal, in Montana. Analiese (Annie) is a divorcee, with a young daughter who lives with Annie’s ex-husband and his new wife. Annie regrets that she gave up her daughter, but she was unable to care for the child, as Annie suffered with severe postpartum depression.
When Annie moves to Montana, she meets Adam Fielding. There is an immediate spark between them, but Annie is nervous about her past. Adam courts her and after she tells him of her past trouble, they marry. Adam is extremely jealous of anyone who shows interest in Annie. Their marriage has its ups and downs, and soon comes to a heartbreaking point.
When Annie is sent away, Adam doesn’t know what to do, nor how to handle things. Through a series of incidents, including financial troubles, they are farther and farther from each other.
This story tells of the story of Annie and Adam, their heartbreak, their sorrows, their triumphs, and the lives they lived.
The story is loosely based on real people.
It is heartbreaking and hopeful, at the same time. It deals with the issues of mental illness and how they were handled in the beginning of the 20th century.
#TheRiverByStarlight #EllenNotbohm
Every well-wrought sentence in The River by Starlight is as beautiful as the Henry David Thoreau inspired title. Author Ellen Notbohm has penned a breathlessly epic, masterful story set in early 1900’s Montana in language so lyrically elevated you’ll want to commit much of it to memory but will have to get back to it later—you’ll be too busy turning the pages.
The River by Starlight is a starkly humanistic story. It’s an historical novel intimately and engagingly written in present tense concerning the sweeping life story of dark-haired and diminutive Annie Rushton, whose young marriage is permanently marred by what might be the time’s inchoate perceptions of post-partum depression. There are repercussions to Annie’s malady that propel her to leave everything behind in her home state of Iowa and hop a train to join her bachelor brother in the wilds of homesteading Montana, where she risks starting a new life. Shouldering her heartbreak, Annie applies her headstrong, fierce independence to helping her brother prosper, so when charismatic businessman Adam Fielding, a colleague of her brother’s, enters her life, theirs is a relationship forged on mutual ambition, but as the years wear on, they become two desperate souls unwittingly tossed by the unpredictable storms of life.
Historical fiction connects the past and the present
If you are from the Northeast of our country be ready for a deep dive into the rugged beauty of Montana. As I read I became fascinated with Notbohm’s descriptions and I read many over just to enjoy the richness of her prose. The first paragraph grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. It’s historical fiction that creates empathy for the characters as if they lived next door. It’s a testament to the love and the challenges of family relationships from tragedy to joy. A compelling, heartbreaking, and healing story that you won’t forget long after you put it down.
I’m in awe of this exquisitely written historical novel. With authentic period language, well drawn characters, and beautiful, descriptive prose, Ellen Notbohm transports her readers to Montana in the early 1900’s with all the hardships and struggles inherent in homesteading. The protagonist, Annie, bears tragic losses and heartbreak, suffers postpartum psychosis, and is abandoned and institutionalized. And yet her resilience and will to live shine through in her extraordinary steadfastness. Notbohm brings a depth of emotion to her writing that engenders empathy and understanding in the reader. As a psychotherapist and former Labor and Delivery nurse, I especially appreciated her sensitive and genuine depiction of the severe but greatly misunderstood (even today) depression many women suffer postpartum. This extensively researched and masterfully written book will stay with me for a long time.
Heart-wrenching yet hopeful, Ellen Notbohm’s multiple award-wining debut novel uncovers the stigma and heartache attached to postpartum depression, little understood in the early 19th century. Unforgettable characters Annie and Adam Fielding linger in the reader’s mind long after the novel closes.
“The River by Starlight” is a book to savor, written with astonishing grace. Notbohm’s writing is fresh, luminous, and often surprising—I frequently went back and reread a sentence or passage because it was so arresting and finely-crafted (“Like the smudge from a dirty eraser, his words and presence are gone but the mark of his existence remains.” Wow!). The story is absorbing and never predictable. And I would say the same about the characters, who are also complex and unforgettable. The dialogue is true and reveals the characters with a subtlety that few writers achieve. While the setting is the western U.S. in the early 20th century, it shines a light on issues and themes that we grapple with widely today. This book will stay with me for a long time.
Ellen Notbohm’s The River by Starlight is a historical novel with all the beauty, mystery, and darkness broken by sparks and eddies of light that the title promises. If you don’t know the richness, vastness and loneliness of the Montana landscape, you will. If you don’t know the terror and grief of living with post-partum and other depression, you will. If you long to be immersed in a beautifully written, deeply felt, exquisite rendering of a woman’s life and loves, The River by Starlight is your book.