The River Wife

A story of belonging is always a story of losing.

The River Wife is an adult fairy tale about rivers, time and the mystery of love. A book that delves into the nature of story itself, language, landscape and the limitations of a human life. Wilson James, a once successful author, arrives at a house deep in the remote central highlands of Tasmania intending to write his next novel. There he meets a woman who mystifies him and all he has held to be true about the world begins to unravel. What would we give up for the person we love?

…few Australians have chosen to write fables that take shape-changing as their central theme. The River Wife tells her story in intimate, seductive prose. A love story must engage readers and persuade them to believe as well. And this one does. The emotions are unfalteringly subtle and persuasive.”

Sydney Morning Herald

A cool and luscious fable of love … (with) all the hallmarks of the great love stories – passionate and tantalising, elegiac and profound. …there are echoes of Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales, Anna Livia." Plurabelle from James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake, and even Murray Bail’s Eucalyptus. Replete with sensuous, evocative language.”

Canberra Times

From the first pages of The River Wife, the reader is struck by the beauty of the prose. There is a fluid brook-like quality to the writing. (A celebration of) the beauty of nature and the enduring power of story.”

The Age