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The River Wife
by
Heather Rose
This is the story of a river and the making of water and the nature of love. Some would say that any story of water is always a story of magic, and others would say any story of love was the same …’
The River Wife is a simple and subtle story of love. The river wife—part human, part fish—has a duty to tend the river, but instead falls in love with a man. The age-old rhythms...more
The River Wife is a simple and subtle story of love. The river wife—part human, part fish—has a duty to tend the river, but instead falls in love with a man. The age-old rhythms...more
Hardcover, 255 pages
Published
2009
by allen&unwin
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A young girl grows up in the forest, all alone but for her father, who is always at her side. When she was quite young her mother left her, why she did not know. As a woman her husband leaves her, again she can not say why. The only thing she is sure of is the river and her duty to it. For she is not of our world, she is a river wife.
By day she walks the earth as a woman, weaving the stories of the river, by night she sheds her human skin for scales, swimming the rivers with only the moon for co...more
By day she walks the earth as a woman, weaving the stories of the river, by night she sheds her human skin for scales, swimming the rivers with only the moon for co...more
Definitely a 5 out of 5. A combination of Magic Realism and new fairytale. This is a naive read with deep insight. It asks the reader to be other than a rational adult but to step out in a world between dream and reality. It maps a path of life, the ebb and flow of season and daily events, and the need to know who we are and where we come from.
I bought this book while in Tasmania for a school camp, found it in a small book store in the middle of nowhere and somehow feel in love with it straight away, but... it wasn’t as good as what i hoped for or expected. It wasn’t something that made me turn pages, but still was overall interesting to read :)
This is a mystical but beautifully written novel about love, life, and nature. At first I thought it was rather strange, but then I found myself wrapped up in the exquisitely lyrical language, and was then quite absorbed. Gorgeous.
Beautifully crafted. Although a little confusing in the first few pages, the novel flows like the river it embraces. The imagery and language are both soft and reminiscent of a time long gone. A wonderful fable for adults.
i'd like to give this an extra half star -- somewhere between 'i liked it' and 'i really liked it'. stronger in the second half than in the first, beautifully sad at the end, it still strayed sometimes into twee, lists that went on a little too long; it felt somehow like something unfinished. i found the illustration intrusive, coming as it did, seemingly at random. i want to like it more than i do; i like it less than i feel i ought.
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Heather was first published at 16 in the Hobart Mercury when she won the Junior Division of the Tasmanian Short Story competition. At 17 she had a regular sailing column.
After leaving Tasmania at 19, Heather spent two years living and working in Asia and Europe before returning to Australia and settling in Melbourne where she slipped into the world of advertising as a copywriter creating major nat...more
More about Heather Rose...
After leaving Tasmania at 19, Heather spent two years living and working in Asia and Europe before returning to Australia and settling in Melbourne where she slipped into the world of advertising as a copywriter creating major nat...more
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