The River Witch by Kimberly Brock (Audiobook)

The River Witch by Kimberly Brock was pure listening pleasure.  I loved the story woven throughout and the narrator, Alison Edwards, was amazing.  I know I would have loved this novel in print as well but the narrator simply brought this story to life for me.  The River Witch is a haunting Southern story with a touch of the magical; it is a story of a woman once broken who learns to find herself again through others — simply beautiful.

Twenty-four year old Roslyn used to be a professional ballet dancer.  It was all she knew and how she identified herself until the day it all ended in a tragic car accident…and then a miscarriage.  Roslyn is more broken than she has ever been and can’t imagine a way out of all the grief and despair she is feeling.  She retreats to Manny’s Island in Georgia and it is there that she discovers a land haunted by the past, a child as lost as she herself is, and ultimately hope for the future.

Roslyn escapes to the island for peace  and quiet.  All she wants is to be left alone and try to recover from all that has gone wrong in her life.  Yet it seems that peace and quiet is the last thing she’ll get once she meets ten-year-old Damascus.  Damascus is a fiesty young girl and with her comes a wealth of things like alligators, a little crazy magical goings on, and a pumpkin patch that holds more for this little girl than Roslyn could ever imagine.  The most important thing that Damascus brings even though she can be quite the handful is that spark of life and love that becomes ignited in Roslyn once again.

Kimberly writes in such a beautiful way that her words take you away to another place – a place where you feel sure you are walking in her character’s shoes.  The lush descriptions of the land made me wish I was there walking along the riverbank and hearing the music float through the mist. I loved all of the characters but my favorites were Roslyn and Damascus and the special friendship that they formed.  Both woman and girl were broken and both needed each other and through that came hope.  This is a beautiful novel that I will revisit again in the future by listening to the audio once again.  It is a story that will stay with me for a long while and I would most definitely rank it as one of my favorite novels this year!

Source:  Audiobook purchased by me.