River Music

Gr 7 Up—The music of Sauerwein's new novel refers to the chorus of voices that narrate this elegiac story set in North Carolina in the years following the end of the Civil War. At the center of the story is Rainy, a 10-year-old girl who knows little about her personal history. Abandoned on a doorstep as a baby, she lives peacefully with Will, a kind farmer, and his son, Ben, but when a series of valuable gifts (that are seemingly meant for Rainy) begin to appear, she wants to know more. Using voices from people, both black and white, whose lives are inextricably tangled, and period details to enrich her story, Sauerwein provides a glimpse into lives touched by war and displacement. The narrators include Gabrielle, Rainy's birth mother who had a relationship with another man while her husband was fighting in the Battle of the Wilderness, and Robert Ray, an older man who befriends Rainy and knows the truth about the young girl's life. The passages narrated by Will are especially moving. He is an inherently good and trustworthy person and his instinct to protect Rainy in the midst of his own despair is poignant. River Music is a well-constructed novel, but it requires a thoughtful and mature reader. Rather than being plot driven, this is a slim internal story that is primarily a meditation on loneliness, loss and love.—Shelley Sommer, Inly School, Scituate, MA