River Wife

I wanted to write reviews as I was reading this. There were passages I wanted to pass on – lines that I truly enjoyed reading. Maybe after the finished book is finally published I will edit them into this review. For now, this is it.

FROM LibraryThing:
The River Wife is a historical novel by Jonis Agee. While it chronicles the lives of four generations of women and the men who loved them, the timeline meanders back and forth between the early 1800s and 1930s up to 1950 without clear motive. Hedie Rails Ducharme opens the tale in 1930 and through the discovery of diaries the reader is taken back to the women of 1812, Annie Lark Ducharme and Dealie Dare Chabot. Omah Ducharme and Laura Burke Shut Ducharme soon follow. Later, after bouncing back from Hedie again, we are introduced to more women who prove vital to the storyline, Little Maddie Ducharme, Vishti and India Gatto. Then back to Hedie to wrap things up. It would be more appropriate to title this story The River Women since it tells the story of many women all with interesting connections to one man, Jacques Ducharme.

When describing the natural elements of location, such as the Mississippi river and Missouri farmland, the writing is lyrical and fluid – reminiscent of Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer. Yet, the characters fall a bit flat. Jacques Ducharme is a contradiction full of mystery. At once he is both a ruthless, dangerous, thieving murderer, and a tender, playful, loving husband. This night and day personality makes it difficult for the reader to fully trust Jacques, or in some instances, even like him. The same contradiction applies to his grandson Clement. This example of history repeating itself, of living dangerously yet loving passionately does nothing to arouse sympathy when both characters leave the story. Even the women lack reality. There is something exaggerated in their passions, their desires to be strong.

One interesting element of the River Wife is the mingling of fact and fantasy, for example, using real events (the New Madrid earthquake and the Civil War) and people (naturalist John James Audubon) against evidence of working witchcraft (Jacques inexplicable youth) and the sighting and interaction with Annie’s ghost (Annie’s ghost saves Omah).

Because the timeline jumps around and key elements are either withheld or shrouded in mystery, The River Wife seems mimic one constant in the story, the Mississippi River. Both meander, have twists and turns, both are calm yet powerful, beautiful and dangerous, full of mystery and depth.

PS~ I trust that Ms. Jonis will credit Maud Irving and JP Webster for the poem on page eight. “Wildwood Flower” was actually written in 1860, nearly 40 years after Annie Lark Ducharme’s death and made famous by the Carter Family.