THE RIVER PEOPLE
The River People by Liz Kellebrew is a haunting and lyrical exploration of 19th-century westward expansion into the Pacific Northwest. Through the intertwined journeys of Marilla, John, and Walter—each navigating rivers that serve as both roads and unforgiving forces—the novel weaves together fiction, historical documents, memoir, and poetry. As these characters face hardships and triumphs, their choices and loves reverberate through generations. This book delves into the myths and realities of migration, revealing the harsh lessons the West has to offer. It’s a powerful, evocative story of love, loss, and survival in a land where nature shows no mercy.
Historical Fiction/ 978-1-963115-27-7/ January 28, 2025
The River People by Liz Kellebrew is a haunting and lyrical exploration of 19th-century westward expansion into the Pacific Northwest. Through the intertwined journeys of Marilla, John, and Walter—each navigating rivers that serve as both roads and unforgiving forces—the novel weaves together fiction, historical documents, memoir, and poetry. As these characters face hardships and triumphs, their choices and loves reverberate through generations. This book delves into the myths and realities of migration, revealing the harsh lessons the West has to offer. It’s a powerful, evocative story of love, loss, and survival in a land where nature shows no mercy.
Historical Fiction/ 978-1-963115-27-7/ January 28, 2025
The River People by Liz Kellebrew is a haunting and lyrical exploration of 19th-century westward expansion into the Pacific Northwest. Through the intertwined journeys of Marilla, John, and Walter—each navigating rivers that serve as both roads and unforgiving forces—the novel weaves together fiction, historical documents, memoir, and poetry. As these characters face hardships and triumphs, their choices and loves reverberate through generations. This book delves into the myths and realities of migration, revealing the harsh lessons the West has to offer. It’s a powerful, evocative story of love, loss, and survival in a land where nature shows no mercy.
Historical Fiction/ 978-1-963115-27-7/ January 28, 2025
Praise for THE RIVER PEOPLE
A sensitively crafted history of pioneers and immigrants for American history enthusiasts.
Profound and moving, Liz Kellebrew’s The River People is a miraculous collage of history, memory and imagination. With rare and clear-sighted grace, Kellebrew examines the intersecting lives of her ancestors, their journeys of survival and resilience, love and transcendence. Kellebrew’s deep compassion and her gorgeous prose create characters so vividly alive that it is impossible not to love them. I can’t remember when I last read a work this beautiful.
—JoAnne Tompkins, author of What Comes After
"When the river takes you," writes Liz Kellebrew in this exquisite work of compassionate genius, "you will know." Unflinching, insightful, and utterly original, Kellebrew's The River People lays bare wounds and truths on an incantatory journey flowing deep into the heart of ourselves.
—Eliza Tudor, author of Wish You Were Here
Kellebrew honors everything she touches. She is an innovative storyteller, guiding her readers further into the river's depths with each page. If you are seeking lyrical, meditative prose that defies genre, look no further.
—Lauren Davis, author of When I Drowned
Kellebrew layers historical accounts, stories, and personal reflection in prose that courses with the assuredness of a river through time and perspectives, resulting in a lyrical and engaging account of family in the mid-19th century Pacific Northwest.
—Gail Folkins, author of Light in the Trees
The delicate construction of The River People makes me love it all the more—a kaleidoscopic portrait of Western Expansion, it is at once intimate and interrogating.
—Sarah C. Townsend, author of Setting the Wire: A Memoir of Postpartum Psychosis
Reading Liz Kellebrew's The River People is like taking a ride down the river itself. Sometimes gentle and other times roaring, its lyricism and mixed forms carry your heart through the flow of time. Run, don't walk, for your copy now!
—Sarah Cannon, author of The Shame of Losing
About LIZ KELLEBREW
Liz Kellebrew writes poetry, short fiction, and essays from the Pacific Northwest. She wrote her debut poetry book, Water Signs (Unsolicited Press), while riding the ferry between Seattle and Bainbridge Island. Her poems have appeared in public art installations and literary journals such as About Place, Room, and Writers Resist. She received The Miracle Monocle Award for Innovative Writing, and her fiction has been shortlisted for the Calvino Prize. It also appears in various anthologies and journals, including The Conium Review, The Coachella Review, and Unreal Magazine. A member of the Academy of American Poets, she holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. Learn more at lizkellebrew.com.
