NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Colorado Public Radio 2023 Books We Love

Set amidColoradoswildbeauty, aheartbreakingcoming-of-agestoryofaresilientyoung womanwhose life is changed forever by one chance encounter.Atragic and upliftingnovel oflove and loss,family andsurvivaland hopefor readers ofGreat Circle, The Four Winds,andWhere the Crawdads Sing.

Beautiful . . . A striking first novel of love and strength and growth, set against the forests and rivers of Colorados 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

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

Victoria encounters Wil by chance on a street corner,a meeting that profoundly altersboth of their young lives, unknowingly igniting as much passion as danger. When tragedy strikes, Victoria leaves the only life she has ever known.She fleesinto thesurroundingmountainswhereshe struggles to survive in the wilderness withno clear notion of what her future willbring. As the seasons change, she also charts the changes in herself, finding in thebeautiful but harsh landscapethe meaningand strength to move forwardand rebuildall that she has lost, even as the Gunnison Riverthreatensto submerge her homelandits ranches, farms, and the beloved peach orchard that has been in her family for generations.

Inspired by true events surrounding the destruction of the town of Iola in the 1960s,Go as a Riveris a story of deeply held lovein thefaceofhardship and loss, but also of finding courage,resilience, friendship, and, finally, homewhere least expected. This stunning debut explores what it means to lead your life as if it were a rivergathering and flowing, finding a way forward even when a river is dammed.