Wild Rivers Wild Rose
by Birdsall, Sarah
356 p., 1 map, 6 x 9
Format: Paper and electronic
Price: $18.95
2020
In 1941, Anna Harker is attacked by
an axwielding assailant in the gold-
bearing ridges bordering the Alaska
Range. It is this moment of savagery
that propels the people of Wild Rivers, Wild Rose.
Anna’s lover, Wade Daniels, learns
of the deaths of Anna’s husband and
their worker, and he rushes to the
hills to look for Anna and to hunt the
murderer. As she lies dying on the
tundra, Anna relives the major events
of her Alaska life while searching her
memories for what could have led to
the violence. And, decades later, an
outsider named Billie Sutherland steps
into a community still haunted by the
murders. Plagued by her own ghosts,
Billie delves into the past, opening old
wounds.
In this gripping novel by Sarah
Birdsall, lives are laid bare and secrets
ring out in the resonant Alaska Range
foothills.
Sarah Birdsall teaches creative writing for the Matanuska Susitna College in Palmer, Alaska.