From the bestselling author of The Whiskey Sea comes a stirring novel of a young woman’s survival and liberation during the Great Depression.In 1937, with flood waters approaching, Adah Branch accidentally kills her abusive husband, Lester, and surrenders his body to the raging river, only to be swept away herself.So begins her story of survival, return to civilization, defense against … civilization, defense against accusations of murder, and the fight to save herself and her stepdaughter, Daisy, from the clutches of her husband’s notoriously cruel family, who have their sights set on revenge for Lester’s death. Essentially trapped, Adah must plan an escape.
But when she develops feelings for the one person essential to her plan’s success, she faces a painful choice: Will she choose to risk everything saving Daisy or take the new life offered by a loving man?
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I loved this book. it takes place in 1937 depression era. While trying to save their possessions from a raging flood that is threatening the whole town, Adah accidentally kills her abusive husband. While trying to push his body in the raging river, she gets swept away. What follows is a fight for survival in this extremely well written story about the desperate love Adah has for her 4 year old step child and the extreme means she will go through to be with her and save her from her abusive in laws.
The characters….I didn’t like the in laws who were well written mean people. Adah seemed conflicted. She could have walked away and left the child but I think her own past demons made her stay and fight for her. I loved her character and how The author wrote her story.
The plot was well thought out and kept me guessing what was going to happen.
I dove into this story and could not put it down! In fact I pulled an all nighter reading it. It is a 5 star rating from me because of the way it pulled at my heart.
A woman fights for her life, and her child’s, after she kills her abusive husband. Kept me riveted, though the ending wasn’t what I wanted…but I’m not the author.
The things endured for love are self-sacrificing.
“Over the course of her life, she had learned that people could hold inside the brightest peaks and the darkest pits, and there were those who straddled the break–half of them drawn to evil, half drawn to beauty. Those people could step from one side to the other and back again as if the line were as thin as a hair. Her husband had been one of those people. Was she one of them, too?” from The River Widow by Anne Howard Creel
In 1937 Paducah, KY as the Ohio River was flooding, Adah’s husband Lester once again lost his temper and began to beat her. In desperation, Adah grabbed a nearby shovel and lashed out at Lester, striking him in the head.
Horrified by what she had done, she dragged his body to the raging river, desperately hoping it would carry away the evidence of her crime.
Adah’s guilt is heavy, but she has the motivation to carry on. She loves Daisy, Lester’s daughter from his first marriage. Lester’s family insist that Daisy and Adah stay with them.
The Branch clan is feared for their violence and imperious disregard for decency and the law. They suspect there is more to the story of Lester’s death. Adah works on the tobacco farm like an indentured servant and hires herself out to do laundry to add to the family’s income. She is unable to protect Daisy from the harsh punishments and rough treatment meted out by her father’s kinfolk, but at least she can comfort and love the child.
As the months go by, Adah struggles with one question: how can she get Daisy out of the Branch family’s clutches? In the meantime, she learns more about Lester and his family–and meets a man who offers her an alternate future.
The River Widow by Anne Howard Creel has an almost Gothic atmosphere, the story of a woman isolated and held against her will, powerless and unprotected. The bulk of the novel is psychological and internal. The suspense comes not in action as much as through emotion and insight. At times I was reminded of Jane Austen’s character Fanny from Mansfield Park, a girl completely dependent, suffering, without any power for self-determination, but with a moral clarity that sets her apart.
I thank the author for a copy of her book and other gifts, a win through the American Historical Novels Facebook Group.
Tarot card reader, Adah, chooses a better life for herself with Les, a widowed rancher with a young daughter Daisy to raise. Too bad that it didn’t turn out that way– her husband was a mean, abusive cuss, who beat her. When the floods came he flew into a rage because she brought their daughter’s doll when they escaped– Adah fought back with a nearby shovel– that changed everything in her life. She hit him and he died– This is not a spoiler, since it is revealed on the back cover! What unfolds is Adah’s struggle with his suspicious family, the police, and a handsome stranger who offers her something she’s never had– security and love. But the discovery of Les’s dead wife’s letters brings Adah the key to a brighter future, which come with an impossible choice.
River Widow is a great mystery, adventure, and beautiful love story.
This was an interesting read, it kept my attention, but is not a deep book.
The River Widow paints a vivid picture of life on a 1937 tobacco farm under the shadow of one family’s corruption and exploitation of others. A page-turner from the start, the story draws you in with a simple but compelling question: After murdering her husband in self-defense, can a young woman save her child from the cruelty of her in-laws?
I absolutely adored this book. It was a very sad, yet hopeful, story. A story of horrible abuse. Death. Being degraded at every turn. Child abuse. And a budding, strong, unmistakeable love in the making.
Adah went to hell and back for a man who swept her off her feet to only end up treating her so bad. Abusing her at every turn. Almost killing her until she finally fought back. She calls herself a murderer throughout this book but in my opinion she’s a strong survivor. She went from that to living with his parents who hated her and his child, Daisy, who was Adah’s stepdaughter. She had raised Daisy from an infant and loved her as if she was her own child. Daisy loved her with all her heart and much to the Branches dismay called her mama. They tried to stop her from saying that but she kept on. They had an unbreakable bond of such strong love. It made my heart break and feel elated. Adah would do anything for that child. Even give up her own happiness. Her chance for love. That is what I call true, complete love.
There are a few questions in this book that you’ll find answers too. Did Lester kill his first wife or was their story the truth? That is a big one. Will Adah get away from the Branches or will they succeed in breaking her? Will she go to prison for murder? Will Adah find love and happiness, she sure deserves it.
I had to give this book 5 stars even though I wanted so much more at the end. I can only hope there will be a sequel that will tell us what happens next. I can’t wait to read more by this wonderful author
Thank you to NetGalley, Lake Union and Ann Howard Creel for a copy in exchange for my honest opinion and review. This is my opinion and is not in any way swayed by receiving an ARC.
A few of my favorite parts of this book are:
Beyond the moon, there were millions of twinkling stars in the sky. Adah sighed and closed her eyes. What had happened between Daisy and her was as insignificant as one tiny star in the vastness of all space, but it was, like each one of those shining lights, beautiful and special. A gift had fallen into her lap in the form of Daisy, and she had to be ever so careful what she did with it. She was the girl’s only hope.
Jack pulled in a deep breath, as if inhaling the moment with her. “It’s a good feeling, having a place of your own. I was once like you-full of doubt. But this place has been good for me. It takes all my thinking and keeps me from drifting.”
There wasn’t a touch of dishonesty in his eyes. And the look on his face was so sweet, spelling out clearly his devotion, admiration, everything good and real. “Yes, I care. I care what he did to you and what he did to his first wife. You acted in self-defense. The way I see it, Lester Branch got his just due.”
He touched her arm, and his calloused hand moved smoothly down her hand, which he cradled and brought to his chest. Nothing else needed to be sad with words. They stood like that amidst a bed of clover on a forest floor while the sounds of life around them returned, and creatures darted between the trees.
Although she labored to keep her sorry curled inside, there were to many moments when it pushed itself out beyond the boundaries she’d tried to build. When she looked at Daisy, she could keep it separate, outside. But when she gazed beyond the window and thought of him, it burned to life inside her.
Jack had once said that forgetting was the only way to get past all the bad things in life, and Adah hoped that he would forget about the short chapter of his life that had featured her. If not, when he looked back on the season of romance, would he feel grateful or regretful? Would he view it as luminous and lovely or colored with confusing shadows and shades? There would be pain in his heart, as there was in hers, and she knew that hurt could cripple and bring one down to a place where up seemed impossibly high and out of reach…
Her hands were lined and scarred and looked older than her thirty-one years. They had read cards and cooked and scrubbed and carried wood. They had turned the pages of books, touched love, and been betrayed by it. They had touched death, too.
Now they held a human life.
I couldn’t put the book down. I was rooting for Adah, the main character, the entire way through the story. Her quiet dignity in the face of her circumstances is wonderful. She is one of my all time favorite characters, I think.
Adah and her abusive husband are caught in an historic flood in 1930’s era Kentucky. Adah survives, the beast she’s married to doesn’t. Adah ends up living with her husband’s family while trying to protect and be a mother to her stepdaughter Daisy and withstand the hateful treatment she receives from her scheming in-laws. Adah has a deep dark secret she’s keeping, while her in-laws are hiding some of their own past.
She knows she needs to escape from this family, but she doesn’t want to leave Daisy.
The characters are all very well drawn, the premise is creative, the flow of the story is beautiful, and this is a book I’ll read again and again.
The River Widow by Ann Howard Creel shows a mother’s fierce love for a child of her heart.
Wonderfully written fictional account of fascinating characters in a true natural disaster.
The River Widow grabbed me from the first page. Ann Howard Creel’s elegant and vivid prose brings to life a remarkable woman’s struggle against oppressive forces during one of the darkest periods of American history. Haunting and ultimately uplifting, The River Widow is one of the best books I’ve read this year.
Ann Howard Creel’s accomplished, fluid storytelling makes for a pacey, page-turning read.
This book was hard to put down. The story was compelling.
This was a great read. Even after a few books after this one, the ending of this saga wants to reach out and yell not yet, you can’t end this like this there is more to be told.
Loved this book. So great to read a book that’s written so without profanities. The subject matter was delivered in a well written manner.
Great job Ann.
An account of what a helpless woman can domwhen surrounded by a family of bullies. Not a happy ending
I liked this story but in some areas the prose became a bit sappy.
Didnt think much of this book, it was ok till the last few pages , ridiculous to think it could end like that and very disappointing, sorry I wasted my time.