Kris says:
It’s the 1930’s along the humid Missouri river, and at the old family home Hedie Rails Ducharme hasn’t been married long before she realizes her handsome free-spending husband is also a gangster. Pregnant and often alone, Hedie glimpses ghosts and begins reading journals written by the many “river wives” before her.
The family saga begins in the 1830’s with a massive earthquake that buries the little Missouri river town of New Madrid and brings young Annie Lark’s roof down on her. Abandoned and trapped beneath heavy beams, she’s eventually rescued by charming Jacques Ducharme, a French fur trapper who came to loot, but stays to nurse her to health and marry her. From modest beginnings they build a river inn and prosper, and Annie forms a warm friendship with one particular guest, John J. Audubon. Then Jacques’ piratical dealings destroy their future forever. Time claims most of the lusty figures that began the venture, but a mysterious witchery sustains Jacques decades beyond a normal lifespan, while he nefariously accumulates and hoards immense wealth. Suddenly he’s gone, leaving successive generations, including Hedie, to search fruitlessly for the treacherous river pirate’s legendary treasure, while the impassive and mighty Missouri rolls on.
Author: Jonis Agee
