Iola, Colorado in the 1960’s, seventeen year old Torie is doing her best to take care of her household after a tragic car accident changed the course of her family, resulting in the deaths of her mother, Aunt and young cousin. Torie is left to help her father on their farm, known for miles around for having the best local peaches.
A chance meeting in town leads to young love, Torie meets Wilson Moon, a drifter who left an Indian boarding school to strike out on his own in a cruel world that doesn’t like anyone who looks different.
A summer affair leads to an impossible but deeply held love and an unplanned pregnancy. Before Torie knows of their baby, Wilson is found dead at the bottom of the river, having been murdered by locals. Unable to disguise the pregnancy, Torie escapes to a hut on the mountaintop where she lives off the land, alone until her baby boy is born. Knowing she cannot care for him, she leaves the baby to be discovered by a married couple on a picnic, altering the course of their lives forever.
Go Like A River is based on true events that happened in Colorado. According to Wikipedia, In 1956, the United States Bureau of Reclamation began planning the Colorado River Storage Project, a series of projects in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. This would make possible comprehensive development of the Colorado River and its major tributaries. One of the projects focused on the Gunnison River, the fifth largest tributary of the Colorado River. As a result of the reservoir, three towns were sacrificed, Iola, Sapinero and Cebolla, Colorado.
Droughts over the years have periodically exposed the town of Iola, as a ghost town on the bottom of the reservoir. Fence posts still stand, metal tools from the remnants of an old barn, and the cement base of an old flag pole have been found. Remnants of a town that included several ranches that had seen four generations come and go were lost to the water of the Gunnison River. Estimates are that 200-300 people lost their homes, promised cheap electricity by the government.
I was drawn to this story in part because of the historical setting, and in part for the origins of Wilson Moon. I have some Cherokee Indian history in my family, and that has made me incredibly interested in reading anything related to Native Americans. Even though I came for the history, I very quickly became fully invested in the love story of Torie and Wilson, and I think you will too!
I was also drawn to the story of the flooding of the town of Iola, because the same thing happened in the area of Georgia where I was born and raised and still live today. Etowah Rolling Mill and Village, built alongside the Etowah River in the early 1800’s, was destroyed in 1864, during the Civil War. Remains of the town are on the bottom of what is now Lake Allatoona, along with the remains of the creek side town, Allatoona, Georgia, for which a dam was created in 1946. The power plant began operating in 1950, and today is the primary water source for the city of Cartersville, and all of Cobb County.
Go As A River is the first novel by author Shelley Read, but I sure hope it isn’t her last. I wholeheartedly recommend this book. It will quickly draw you in and stay with you for quite some time after finishing.
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