This is book is full of metaphors, some of them better than others. Most of them relate to nature or fishing or hiking or weather. Cancer is a storm. Recovery is being lost in the woods. Fly fishing is about knowing when to let go. Poorly tied flies can cause you to lose a fish. A poorly tied marriage can cause you to lose your spouse. And so on.

Metaphors describing life as a path or a journey abound. Mia changes direction. She charts a new course. She strives to find herself. At one point she goes to a bad place where her sister can't follow. And so on. This book is all about metaphors relating to Mia's self-awareness.

The problem is, other people's self-awareness is frankly boring. And Mia's self-awareness is painfully so. Did she expect the peace and quiet of a mountain cabin would lead to some kind of epiphany? Because it never happened. Whatever meaning of life she expected to find never got found. Instead the story sort of got lost in a long-winded history of another woman who used to live in the same cabin.

The thing that happened to Mia that turned her attitude around and restored her health was, guess what, a man. And not just any man. This was a two-dimensional paragon of a man, a perfect opposite of her two-dimensional lout of a husband. Neither man had any discernable personality. One was simply insensitive and mean, the other was too perfectly sensitive and good, and neither was very interesting.

Add to this long-winded discussions of food, clothes, antiques, and paintings, and you get a really slow-moving story.

Now I am not going to say that nobody will like this book. I am sure there are people with a certain mindset who are truly interested in slow-moving stories about one woman's emotional recovery and the empowerment of women in general. If that is the sort of thing that appeals to you, then go ahead and give this book a try. For me, I was just glad when I finally turned the last page and was finished with it.

Mia is one tough, courageous woman, but I can't help feeling that I've seen this in a movie on Lifetime. I enjoyed the setting and thought it was well presented. I initially felt that the fly fishing aspect would keep my interest, but the entire story did. Maybe they should make this into a movie!

At first I was skeptical about if I would like this book or not. But this book drew me in the minute that I started reading it.

The main character goes through an exceptional amount of loss in a short time. You really feel for her and the pain that she is going through - I frequently found myself with tears running down my face while reading.

I think that it is rare to be able to connect with a character and find strength in her as the story progresses.

I also love that this story was set in the south - to me it adds a warmth and charm to the story.

I would definately recommend to anyone looking to sit down to a good read. You will definately be glad that you did and feel warm at the end of the book.

WoW! I just finished reading this book and I could not get to the computer fast enough to compose my review. I have not cried tears over a book in ages and this is what I did while reading "Time Is A River."

Mary Alice Monroe has such an easy writing style that draws one into her story and characters. Mia is the main character and she is recovering from breast cancer surgery while restoring a remote cabin and learning to fly fish. Her journey from victim to survivor and her growth during the whole process kept me turning the pages. Most importantly, was how at the end of each chapter I just wanted to absorb each faze of Mia's progress.

I really enjoyed reading of her journey and learning her fears and thoughts. Each character in this book is slowly brought to life as a friend, much like one would meet new friends. In addition to Mia's growth in her self, there is also the discovery of a mystery which Mia leans on to learn of the enigma Kate Watkins. In the process Mia "Muddies the Waters" while unearthing Kate's scandal. "Time Is A River" is about family, hurts, dealing, healing, and growing form life's experiences. I will most definitely come back to this book again and again in the future.

Since I've lived most of my life in the South, I have a soft spot for fiction set in Southern states. This story is mostly set in the mountains of North Carolina. The plot weaves 2 stories together -- one from the present and one from the past -- the story of a breast cancer survivor escaping to the mountains to lick her wounds from her unfaithful husband and the story of a woman flycaster that in her time was the best.

I found it an enjoyable book and look forward to reading other titles by the author. I liked her detailed descriptions of the people in the story and felt connected to the story so that I was sad to reach the end of the book.

I enjoyed this book so much. I liked that Mia grew to like herself after that long year of battle with breast cancer and the mystery of Kate, the original owner of the cabin, Mia finds herself staying at after learning of her husband's infidelity.

Mia's sister has given her a 3 day retreat for breast cancer survivors with Cast for Recovery - learning to fly-fish for the first time for most women but a retreat for those who need the understanding of another survivor. Cast for Recovery is a national nonprofit program--sounds like a good one too! Belle has been Mia's instructor and has her own guide company in Asheville NC. She loans Mia the cabin, she's inherited it but really doesn't want to have anything to do with it-it was her grandmother's but she doesn't know much about Kate.

Great cast of characters too - local women and a few men too from the local small town closest to the cabin. I devoured the book

I picked this book because I liked the style of the Prince of Tides, even though a tad dark and because I have southern roots. Even though I live in Bangkok, there are strong pulls to be connected with where I was raised.

Mia had a life threatening illness of breast cancer and after a week away at the mountains at a support group returned home to find her husband in bed with another woman. This is a book about finding yourself, responding to surprises and continuing on in life inspite of challenges.

Mia returns to the mountain and then tries to find out who she really is. This happens through nature, through the river, through finding survival issues through the art and sport of fly fishing. Well, this book did not impact our southern roots like I thought unless you understand mountains, river streams and fly fishing.

In finding herself, there is mystery involved which is a good read. It is well written and I would like to read more by Mary Alice Monroe.

I thought at first, this book was going to be about a woman who had breast cancer and in shock, become hermit in the woods in a family cabin in the middle of nowhere. I imagine the woods in Alabama, Virginia, and Louisiana. But, all of that disappeared when the mystery of the cabin's original owner Kate Watkins. Through grandmother's journal (not Mia's grandmother but her fly-fishing instructor's), Mia (the person who occupies the cabin) is distracted enough away from her own tragedy to learn a life lesson. She learns how to cope with pain, and suffering from others' suffering, and relate to another woman who lived her to cope her own suffering.

As a man, with very little emotional range, I think Mia found her heroine. Someone to look up to at the time of worst health, a hope, and I feel this has allot of religious association of salvation and redemption. Don't get caught reading this alone. Read this with your lover and maybe you can get an emotional effect of marriage counseling and brownie points to allow emotions to come out of you. Read it aloud so your lover can hear you read it, maybe it will interest the other person in your life to read it when you are not there. Later you can discuss the hope and finding a relatable story between the two of you in order to find common ground to cope a tragedy of life that may be thrown at you right now at the times of economic hardship, and job-loss and financial ruins. This is probably more realistic than the Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus by John Gray, Ph.D. to relate to. I sure relate better than John Gray's self help book.

Sometimes you find yourself totally gripped by book and you know this is one that will stick with you. Sometimes you can watch someone else reading a book and know they have found one. My wife found this one and was consumed by it. After a few strange conversations, I figured I had better read it too. The first strange thing was that she suddenly started asking questions about fly fishing and whether I would teach her. Then she started questioning our long held belief that I would pass first, she started mentioning breast cancer. Eventually, I realized these topics were coming from the book, she got so wrapped up in the main character (Mia.) I figured I better read it quickly to find what else is on her mind. I'll admit it was a bit of a chick book so here is what she thought of it.

"The parallel stories of the 1920's with Kate Watkins and modern day with Mia Landan wove together perfectly, balancing like one would in fly fishing. Particularly if one had been taught by Kate whose dancing classes were put to best use in the river. She was a wonderful character who helped to heal Mia from her diary and fishing journal. As Mia is healing , she is able to embrace the small town and women who would like to help her remove the scandal from Kate's name and remember her for the legendary Fisherwoman she was. Throughout it all one senses impending trouble when Belle the grandaughter and owner of the cabin will return angrily berating Mia for "stirring up the mud" on her Grandmother. Bella wants the "story of Kate Watkins to die" with such an anger that I was seriously worried for Mia when she returns.

I did not anticipate the ending and it was perfect. I worried so much that it was going to end badly so I purposely stopped reading for awhile so the characters could stay happy in my head if it was all going to end poorly. But it ended very well.

Time is a River makes one think of the South according to one reviewer, it made me think of Minnesota and our cabins and plain old fishing without all the fancy casting and such. This was a gem of a book."

For me, any book that gets my wife to want to go fishing is a 5 star book.

Mary Alice Monroe
Pocket Book, 2008
ISBN: 9781416544364
Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for ReviewYourBook.com, 10/08
5 Stars
Brilliant...
Mia had faced some trying times in the past year. The trials had left her uncertain of herself. She was not sure she could go on or that she even wanted to. Her fight with breast cancer and her husband's unfaithfulness had beaten her into the ground. She retreated to heal in a rustic isolated old cabin in the mountains. She found the previous owners diary; it was almost a hundred years old. Kate Watkins story was engrossing, from young Kate growing up to the young woman desperately in love, facing insurmountable challenges, accused of murdering her lover. Slowly Mia began to heal and to move on with her life. She could relate to Kate's wisdom in comparing life to a river. "Now she was standing knee deep but steady in the river, facing the current head on..." "Mia rose slowly and looked out at the river that flowed through time. She was going to make it; she knew that now...She was a survivor."
Time Is A River is a remarkable read. This is the first book by Mary Alice Monroe that I have read; it will not be the last one. Her characters are multifaceted. It was as though I became part of their life. I felt their pain and their triumph. We can learn much from this book. When Belle reaches out to Mia offering her assistance she never suspects that Mia will make a profound difference in her own life. The plot is brilliant! Monroe's portrayal of southern women is fascinating. Having grown up in Kentucky, I could easily relate and recognize the southern culture Monroe describes. There is something special about watching a character evolve in to a stronger person. This book captures the essence of growth. I highly recommend this book to fans of fiction.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, but I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I'd hoped. It was good - just not excellent, not destined for my "favorites" list or to be recommended to all my friends.

What I really liked about this book:
· A major plot point is a decades-old mystery. This started out pretty slow, but picked up as the book went along. I found myself more interested in the "old" characters and their issues than the "current" characters.
· The descriptions of Appalachia are beautiful. It's a great place for a story.
· There are a number of strong female characters - the kind I would want to befriend in real life.

Where I was disappointed:
· The book didn't go as deep into the breast-cancer survival emotions as I'd hoped.
· The supernatural theme wasn't as strong as I'd hoped.
· The fly-fishing theme was too strong for my taste. I am outdoorsy, but not a fisherman.

I had never heard of Mary Alice Monroe before. Ever. But... this looked pretty good. And it was. Ms. Monroe paints a picture of the Carolinas that absolutely haunted me. I'm quite a nature girl myself, but a completely different part of the country. But I found myself willing to give up my desert and mountains to find some quite river in the hills of Carolina to do some fly-fishing. It made sense when I read about the author and found out that Monroe is quite the conservationalist. No one, and I mean no one, could write about this kind of natural beauty and wonder without being passionate about the outdoors.

The rest of the story is, and I say this is in the best way possible, chick lit. If you don't like sappy womanly stories, you won't like this. If you do, you will. It's that simple. However, I am happy to say that this is not just a romance. Yes, it has romance which I happily welcome. But this is also a story of independence, nature, quirky community, and a murder mystery. The characters tend to fall toward stereoypes, but oddly enough I did not mind. To me, it just made them cute. What more could you want?

Monroe's writing is not exactly simple, but she writes her complex prose like poetry, applying words where they will be welcomed, so I never found myself bogged down in the words. The passion here is the river, and this is a theme and motif with which Monroe runs.

This is a beautiful piece of literature that will have something for everyone who enjoys this kind of work.

Now excuse me while I go search out more Mary Alice Monre books.

In the novel Time Is a River Mia Landan flees to the mountains of North Carolina to seek solace and refuge. Recovering from breast cancer, she has returned to her Charleston home a day early from a "Casting for Recovery" retreat, to find her husband in bed with another woman.

Belle Carson, a fly-fishing guide from the retreat, offers her cabin in Watkins Cove, where Mia hopes to find out who she is now and what she should do next. Belle has never actually stayed in the cabin and isn't even sure she wants to keep it. She will be in Scotland for the summer; thus, the cabin is Mia's for the taking.

Wending beside the cabin and down into the woods, a river bubbles along. Fascinated by the timelessness of the river - even the colors that play in the light - Mia turns to it for comfort. She takes her few fly-fishing skills and attempts to hone them, seeking to become one with her body again, and as the author quotes an anonymous source - "The charm of fly-fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive, but attainable - a perpetual series of occasions for hope."

Inside the cabin, which is quite rustic, cobwebby, and jammed with assorted items, Mia plunges into the task of cleaning it up for her benefactor Belle. It was a cabin Belle inherited from her mother, and which belonged to her grandmother Kate Watkins. Kate was from a wealthy
family that lost its money in the 1929 stock market crash. She managed to keep the cabin and holed up there - where the townspeople gossiped that she entertained her married lover. Then there was a scandal and allegations that Kate had murdered her lover.

But when Mia finds a fishing diary and a personal diary, she becomes obsessed with learning what really happened to Kate back in that long-ago time. She ventures into town and begins researching her subject.

As Mia draws closer to her goal of learning more about Kate Watkins, she also begins to discover new things about herself. And, of course, her fly-fishing skills increase - especially after she meets handsome Stuart MacDougal, a businessman who happens to love fly-fishing as well. And then she rediscovers her artistic talent of painting, long ago abandoned.

As time passes, Mia comes to identify with the river, with Kate Watkins, and with the community surrounding the beautiful cabin. She comes to believe that "time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along. But I am the river."

We must ask ourselves what, if anything, does Mia finally learn about the mystery of Kate Watkins and her lover; will she be able to provide Belle with the truth about her grandmother; what will she do with the rest of her life; and finally, can she risk love again, when she might still hold the cells of death in her body?

This beautiful tale completely enthralled me - I almost felt part of the river and the community while reading it. The author's descriptive passages reeled me in and allowed me to experience Mia's journey along with her. It is a story I will not soon forget.

This book not only gave me insight to fly fishing, it takes you on the jouney. Siddons spins a weave of a woman who found her husband cheating to a woman who gains character and strength by living in a cabin in the mountains in NC. She learns to fly fish and become a member of the close knit town. The emotions she overcomes in facing her trials kept me reading page after page. She is a servivor of breast cancer and more than that a she learns how to live. I was please to learn details about fly fishing, as I intend to try it also.

While the story itself could be quite interesting, I find I am having a hard time getting thru this book because of the numerous allusions to fly fishing - and this is not just a few, they're everywhere and in such detail that only a fisherman could possibly enjoy it. I am not a fly fishing fan so I find that this part gets very tedious. I would think someone would have to be a complete fly fishing enthusiast to really enjoy this book. Again, the story could be quite good, I just find all the fly fishing references to be a bit much.

I am a big fan of Mary Alice Monroe and was excited to read this book. I have to admit, the subject of fly-fishing is not one I thought I would ever see in a book geared towards women, however the description of the fly on the water, the feel of the water and wind, has me intrigued, perhaps this is a sport I might try someday.

The real story is of a woman overcoming breast cancer and a betrayal by her spouse, it is about finding her own voice and becoming the person she was meant to be. Of course there is a good mystery thrown in concerning another strong woman, one years ahead of her time, that helps Mia find herself.

Not the best of Ms Monroe's books, but definately worth the read.

This novel is built on the predictable bones of a romance novel and would probably be enjoyed by those who like that genre. Mia, our heroine, is recovering from breast cancer, has been treated badly by her cad of a husband, and escapes to a cabin in the hills of North Carolina. Although she is warned by the landlord that there is a family scandal associated with it and specifically told not to "stir things up" by discussing it with the townspeople, Mia, of course, cannot resist investigating and stirring things up all over town, where virtually every person she meets clasps her to their bosom and shares their secrets, in what I suppose is meant to be a demonstration of Southern hospitality (and is the opposite of any close-knit small town I've ever experienced). Meanwhile, she meets a tall, handsome stranger who has sworn off romantic involvement, but of course reverses himself almost immediately upon meeting our heroine.

The backdrop for the story is the world of fly fishing, which Mia has taken up as part of her cancer recovery, and I found the author's descriptions of and information about this sport interesting and entertaining. Those passages ring very true and are among the few times this novel really pulled me in. Unfortunately, the author has a tendency to over-use her descriptive phrases, and about the tenth time a trout "sipped a fly," what had seemed clever and descriptive had become tedious and irritating.

Ms. Monroe's characters tend to be stereotypes: The brusque, hearty fly fishing guide; the warm, jolly baker; the eager, dedicated reporter; the prim and proper librarian; the loquacious, melancholic old folks. She also has a somewhat tin ear for dialogue, with the result that the characters' conversations often seem intrusive and developed only to provide the reader with salient plot points. Although at times she catches the cadences and patterns of North Carolina speakers beautifully, again she lets herself falls prey to stereotypes: "I lost that purty maple," "I was a-scared."

This is not a really bad novel; it's very readable and moves along quickly. It's just not a really good novel, either. Some of the paths it takes to the finish are interesting, but the outcome is still predictable and much too tidy. You won't come away much changed for having read it, although I am thinking about asking my brother-in-law to teach me about fly fishing!

It took me quite awhile to get through this book, I had to almost force myself to read it. It just did not "grab " me ! I found it slow moving, just not enough pizazz to keep me interested. If it were not for the fact I felt committed to reading it and reviewing it I would not have read it.

This is the story of a cancer survivor who got hit with a double blow, as her husband asked for a divorce as she started to recover from her treatments. The journey back to full emotional, as well as physical, health for her came in a remote cabin with a lot of fishing and interacting with local people in a remote area.

That seems trite but the story is written with a master hand and great character development, as well as an interesting plot. No violence or graphic scenes, and the action is slow-moving. That said, it is hard to put down. You just want to read more and see what will happen next.

Being a breast cancer survivor and living in the foothills of North Caroina this book really struck home. This is my first time listening to Mary Alice Monroe and it makes me want to checkout her other ones.

I read this book while on a cruise in the Caribbean. If you ask me today, what is the best thing you did on the boat? I would respond, "I relaxed and read a great book." Time is a River was the perfect book to take with me. I had never read a book by Mary Alice Monroe, but I do plan on reading more. She did a great job of creating a character who the reader could relate. She was a breast cancer survivor. I don't say that lightly. I think the author does a great job of truly detailing the horror that breast cancer truly is. She doesn't gloss over or glamorize breast cancer; she establishes that it is cruel and that it attacks femininity.

As the character goes through the process of healing and receives professional help with recovery, her husband is not available, uninvolved, and just absent in heart and soul. This book details her quest to find herself and in the process, solve a small-town mystery from years previous.

The author does a great job of detailing the setting. The pictures of the places just unfolded before me. I could draw this beautiful town and countryside from her subtle, yet detailed descriptions.

Time Is a River also touches on relationships of all kinds. Mrs. Monroe does a great job of detailing the art of making new friends, letting go of a past love, finding love, and friendship struggles. I found myself relating to the character in so many ways.

Although not interested in fly fishing myself, I did find this part of the storyline interesting and easily understandable. Time Is a River is a well-written book full of relationships, struggles, and laughter.

Though this is not a terrible example of "chick lit" I can't fully recommend it since there are so many better reading options around. The plot is pretty familiar. Our heroine, Mia, childless and pushing forty, is struggling to recover from a bout with breast cancer and her husband's unfaithfulness and a pending divorce. She retreats to a long locked cabin in rural North Carolina that once belonged to a woman named Kate who had been a journalist and fly fishing expert. Kate had been tragically involved in a huge scandal/murder mystery years earlier that her granddaughter, Belle, still feels shame about. Author Monroe uses the plot device of the discovery of a lost journal to inspire Mia to research Kate's life. In so doing Mia finds wisdom and information that relates to her own life as well as gives healing to Kate's surviving family. Fly fishing is a major element of the plot but thankfully not a whole lot of time is devoted to tedious descriptions of it (I found A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT unreadable because of all that book's fly fishing talk). If you are a fan of Mary Alice Monroe and the type of books she writes you will likely love TIME IS A RIVER but this was the first novel of hers I have read and I am not particularly eager to read another.

I gave this novel four stars despite the horrible editing and "romance novel" style, improbable scenarios starting midway though the book which really took away from the quality of the overall story. Most of the elements of the story kept me enraptured and I loved the author's ability to create vivid pictures in my mind of what she was describing. I think that any women who has desired the solitude of a cabin in the woods combined with a few months off from life will enjoy this story. I thoroughly enjoyed it despite its flaws and that is all I asked of it.

This author needs a new proofreader. I have never encountered so many errors in a final text.

Out of the gate, let me confess my personal bias: I don't generally read chick-lit. It's too gushy-girlie (I'm a tomboy--and, while I'm at it, note to Ms. Monroe: Not all girls dream of Pemberley), and this book was no exception. I read all of it, though, because I, too, have a grandmother (well, great-grandmother) whose life ended in scandal--but she really did commit murder. Murders. So the idea of the granddaughter who is ashamed--yeah, I know all about that in real life. But my criticisms were (excuse the attempt at playfulness) hot and heavy as I read this. I, too, caught the error in the sisters' ages. Also: if you're going to mention the "tangy smell of mud" you can do that once in the whole book. Not more than once and certainly not within pages of each mention. And every time people were hungry they "feasted on" whatever they were eating.

But who am I to criticize? I certainly don't have a pretty book published by a known publisher out there, and Ms. Monroe does, so clearly she knows what she's doing. Or at least she knows her readership....

As a middle aged male, I'm obviously not the target audience for this book - not even close. However, in spite of finding much of the story to be predictable, I was interested enough in it to read through to the end. For nitpickers, there are some inconsistencies which should have been caught in editing (the two sisters ages, for one, are given as being 6 years apart, but when they're specifically stated, they're only 4 years apart.) There are other little things like that that have the effect of taking you out of the story when you find them. Not a bad book, I guess, but not something I'd read again. I'll give it to one of my woman friends. It'll probably be appreciated more that way.

This is a book that is screaming to be a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. Neither terribly deep nor action-packed, it is a fairly absorbing quick read (I am a notoriously slow, late-fine-library-book-type reader, and I sailed through this book in 2 1/2 days) that would work as an airplane book. It is also obviously geared toward female readers, and pushes several buttons along that line; vulnerable woman at a crisis in her life; ancient mystery involving lovers; powerful female figures throughout, with only one male standout.

Mia Landan, a breast-cancer survivor, is coerced into a recovery program by her concerned older sister. The recovery program consists of an in-depth class on the art of fly-fishing, taught by a strong, take-charge woman who is that oddity, a female fishing guide and owner-operator of a guide service in North Carolina. Women go to the class - called Casting for Recovery - to heal, to come to terms with their cancer treatment, to become strong again, mentally and physically. Mia has successfully made it through the course, and emerges feeling better about herself but still with issues.

Upon coming home, she is broadsided by a shock involving her husband, and she retreats back to the mountains where the course took place without realizing why she returned. The instructor, Belle Carson, finds her sobbing next to her car and in the course of dealing with the distraught Mia, offers her the solace of a fishing cabin she owns, deep in the North Carolina mountains, where she can regroup and decide what her next move might be.

This was a predictable novel - nothing that hasn't been done before - but the device of fly-fishing offered a new twist to an old story. That is all it really is, a device - it offers nothing earthshaking about fly-fishing as a sport, although you get the feeling that there is nothing more restful and mind-emptying than standing in a glorious, wild river and trying to outwit a fish. It's been years since I've fished myself, but reading this book, there were times when I felt the twinges of magic that do surround trout fishing; you do feel like you are separate from the whole world, and that the foibles of life cannot strike at you while you give yourself to fishing. In that respect, I felt that this book worked well, though I've never understood the constant catch-and-release philosophy (the true enthusiast never seems to take any fish home, and to me there's not much better than a freshly cooked trout). That said, fly-fishing was not what this book is about; it is the time-worn story of a woman coming out of the depths of despair to find her place in life.

Interspersed with Mia's travails, and central to the plot, is the cabin where she ends up - an ancient, unloved residence that comes alive for her as she cleans it up and fixes it. She finds the things left behind by the former owner - the current owner's grandmother - to be tantalyzing clues to an interrupted life, and against the wishes of Belle, and in Belle's absence, Mia starts to investigate an old scandal involving Belle's grandmother.

I enjoyed this book, although I thought the seemingly instantaneous acceptance and friendliness of the people in the small town of Watkins Mill to be naive at best. I've lived in a lot of little towns, in many areas of the world, and it has been my experience that small towns do not take to strangers that easily, if at all. It can take years to gain the trust and cooperation that Mia seems to attract within days of landing in the little community. Besides that, there were some non-sequiturs and time-lapse incontinuities that disturbed me - it could perhaps have been gone over a bit closer by the author before publishing - but they are fairly minor quibbles. Overall it was a good fluffy read - not too deep, not too taxing - not really recommended for serious fly-fishing enthusiasts for anything thought-provoking, but for what it is - a woman in search of herself - good to lose oneself in.

Using the strength of a woman from the early 20th century to heal a modern woman of the 21st century was fascinating and effective story-telling. To escape personal tragedies, Mia, the main character, leaves her chique society to hide in the hills of North Carolina. She is immediately surrounded by people with simpler and more open lives. However, the most influential person she "meets" during this period is a woman, Kate, in whose cabin Mia lives. Though dead for nearly 50 years, Kate's spirit lives in the cabin and through her diaries, she teaches Mia strength and courage.

In addition to the "relationship" Mia has with Kate, the author inserts a romance with a man, Stuart, she meets while fishing. To be honest, I found this relationship a distraction - almost as if adding a romance was required. I would have been much more interested in reading more about Kate's doomed relationship with Theodore. None-the-less, the Stuart-Mia romance didn't harm the story for me.

Overall, this novel was enjoyable and entertaining.

This book will be very helpful to anyone going through a crisis in life. The writing is not complex, indeed my 9th grader reader child had no problem with a few pages, and the grammar leaves a bit to be desired fairly frequently. However, the ideas and concepts are sound and simple. The protagonist (heroine, really) faces several simultaneous challenges and works with them the way any of us would--by stumbling though them. The book wasn't for me, as I really couldn't relate to anyone in it. However, I've known several people who are or were facing similar situations, and this book is spot-on for them. Don't read this as literature, but as a journey through some tough times.

I found this book to be a fun beach read. The author does an excellent job of developing the heroine who comes across as likable and real and not whiny and needy as so many other characters in the genre. The author blends in an intriguing subplot to the novel that keeps things interesting and off the beaten path. While I can't say I enjoyed the book enough to make the author a regular in my reading list I did enjoy the book overall.

I really, really enjoyed this book. It was beautifully written, with an engrossing mix of themes involving personal relationships, spousal betrayal, mortality, nature, history and even a bit of a detective story.

A few reviewers have suggested that this is a book only women will enjoy. I disagree. You do not have to be a woman to appreciate and be moved by a story of a woman battling cancer who is betrayed by the one person who has vowed to love and support her - her husband. A man could just as easily be in a similar situation. To help cope with and, ultimately, move beyond, these personal tragedies, Mia takes up residence for the summer is an isolated fishing cabin on a pristine river in the mountains of North Carolina. The cabin is owned by Belle Carson, a fishing guide who conducts fly fishing clinics for female cancer survivors. The author does a wonderful job describing the natural beauty of the Southern Appalachians, an area I have spent a good deal of time in and love.

While spending time alone in the cabin, Mia begins to become fascinated with the story of the cabin's past owner, Belle's grandmother, Kate Watkins, who is rumored to have committed a murder in the cabin in the late 1920's. To learn more, Mia begins researching Kate's life and times in the nearby town of Watkins Mill. As she discovers the strength of this woman whom she never knew, she grows stronger herself.

Yes, many of the themes in this book are tried and true and have been explored by many other authors. But Ms. Monroe does a fine job exploring them again without being trite or too formulaic. And the (fictional) historical tie-ins and associated detective work by Mia were the icing on the cake that really kept me engrossed. In fact, I read the book cover-to-cover in one sitting - I just couldn't put it down.

Bottom-line - if you like books about nature, history and, yes, self-discovery, I think you will enjoy this novel. Highly recommended.

In the first 2 pages I thought "oh no, this is off to a slow start!" but it picks up speed. Once we discover the mysterious Kate, the story becomes fascinating. The connections between generations, the slow unraveling of Kate's life that ultimately resolves the mystery, the realization of how tragically her life turned out, all are very interesting and all give plenty of fodder for deep thought---the story came back to me repeatedly over the few days after I finished the book. To me, a story that stays with you like that is a good story! I kept turning over in my mind the way time really IS a river: people can get caught in circumstances just like fish get hooked, and how people come stepping in and out of the river. I also liked that the choices the characters make are always explained in some way: you aren't left wondering why she would pick that option. I'm not interested in fly-fishing but Monroe even managed to make that part of the book interesting, especially with her vivid, beautiful descriptions of the water, flowers, woods and mountains. I agree with the reviewer who said the book is a bit uneven: the parts involving Mia and Stuart were much less compelling than anything involving Kate, who is such a strongly-drawn character. Still, very worth reading: the combination mystery/double love-story keeps the book quite interesting. This is the first Monroe book I've read, and on the strength of this one I probably will read at least one more.

An incredible book about healing and renaissance after life's tragedies
strike you. Required reading for anyone who is struggling with facing life
change, rejection, illness, or death of a loved one.

...I really did .....to understand and care about Mia. I found it impossible to believe that ....in a state of complete disapppointment, misery,...you name it ...that although the offer to stay in the remote cabin owned by a friend might have seemed a recovery environment, a cabin with no phone, no TV, not much of any conforts of home plus being very remote would have been a comforting sanctuary. and....suddenly....a handsome, caring fly fisherman is just down the river and immediately the two...he and Mia...are as one....the whole story....including the ending seemed too contrived. I know many readers have given this a 5 star rating, I doubt I would have plowed on through to the end had I not been reviewing it for the Vine program.

This is my first encounter with a book by Mary Alice Monroe and I'm pretty sure it will be my last. I'm not quite sure what it is, but there is something about the book that is just too dull for me. I am having a lot of trouble getting through the book. Normally I read a book within a couple of days at most, but I've been reading this one for about a week and am just over halfway through it. I've desperately wanted to finish the book before writing a review for it because it only seems fair to do so. But I am on page 163 and just can't get into it. The way the author describes the scenery is breathtaking and I do sympathize with the main character in her abandonment by her husband during such a difficult time in her life. But, I just don't care enough about the characters. I don't care what is happening to them now and I don't care what will be happening to them in the future. This is one book that I know I can set down right now and not care if I ever pick it up to finish it. I really wanted to like it, too, as it is the first book I am reviewing for the Vine program. I have other books to read though, and this one just isn't worth my time.

There is a time honored saying, "You can't judge a book by its cover". Ah, but here is an exception. Everything about this book is beautiful. It begins with the exquisitely beautiful cover and continues through the entire book.

This is a story that heightens feelings, sensations, and our overall appreciation for what is natural, pure, and honest.

Thank you Mary Alice Monroe for your fine gift of TIME IS A RIVER.

I enjoyed reading Time is a River. The novel has a bit of mystery, a bit of romance and quite a bit about fly-fishing. It is an easy read - always something to keep readers turning the pages.
Well written, the story has strong characters to which readers can connect, and the writing is interesting, colorful and detailed. I could see and smell the forest and hear the river roiling over river rocks.
Mia Landan, the main character, has had one hard knock in life after another. She is recovering from breast cancer and a mastectomy. To assist with her healing she attends a fly-fishing retreat in the mountains; all the attendees are recovering from cancer treatments.
When returning home from the retreat she discovers her husband has not been faithful and that he has little interest in his wife's recovery, or in continuing their marriage. Feeling as if she's been hit in the stomach, and with nowhere else to go, she returns to the site of the retreat and is found by the retreat's leader, Belle Carson. Belle offers Mia the use of a long-abandoned cabin in the mountains for the summer. The cabin belonged to Belle's family and is now hers. It's been locked up and neglected for years because it holds secrets that Belle has no interest in disturbing. Mia jumps at the opportunity to rest, recover and find her inner and outer strength while toughing it out in the middle of nature.
The novel has some beautifully written passages and I feel author Mary Alice Monroe knows her characters intimately. The novel holds my interest and each character is real and has my empathy; the book is written by a talented author and is written from the heart.Time Is a River
The novel has everything a volume needs to keep a reader eagerly turning the pages. This is a book definitely worth taking your time to read and enjoy.

This is a complex story that will keep you engaged from the moment you open the first page. It had the right mix of suspense, mystery, and emotion that made me really care about the characters. This book made me want to curl up on my porch under a blanket and spend a lazy Sunday finishing the entire thing in one sitting.

When this book arrived, the gushing blurbs on the back cover from two of my favorite Southern authors, made me save it until I had a free afternoon. I wanted to savor every page. Halfway through, I had to check the jacket again to make sure this was the book they were raving about. It wasn't. Ms. Siddons, Mr. Conroy, my faith in you is restored.

The first half ran in so many different directions, I couldn't tell what the story was about. Was it about a cancer survivor? A ghost? Fishing? A stranger in a strange land? Girlfriends? When Ms. Monroe finally made up her mind, the story took off and the finish was much stronger than the beginning augured. What a difference it would have made had she rewritten the first half after figuring out where the book was going, getting her facts straight and making the secondary characters more interesting, instead of giving the impression that she stuck in descriptive details as she thought of them.

Because this book arrived in hardcover, with a retail price printed on the inside jacket, I have to believe the publisher considered this edition to be store ready, but there are glaring technical errors such as a child conceived in the late summer of 1929 was seventeen years old in April of 1948. Mia's sister Maddie was older by six years in one place and by four years in another, and the time-space continuum of Mia's days was confusing, to say the least. These were inexcusably sloppy and distracting and it is to be hoped they'll be corrected.

Having gotten the negatives out of the way, on to the good stuff. Ms. Monroe very successfully captured the lure of mountain streams and the thrill of catching a fish on a homemade fly, and once the novel got underway, I couldn't wait for more of Kate Watkins' story. I'm sorry she's a fictional character. The final resolution of Kate's and Mia's stories were very satisfactory and believable (though therapists always tell you not to jump into another relationship after a breakup), and I cared enough about Mia to be happy for her. I AM glad I read this book, despite its flaws, and I look forward to reading Ms. Monroe's earlier work.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel on two levels: One for the story of Mia, a woman still struggling to survive breast cancer when she discovers she will also have to survive losing her husband. Second, for the mystery of Kate, a woman accused of murdering her lover in 1929.

That's the same year Kate's prominent family lost its wealth and she isolated herself in the family fishing cabin until she died. The cabin was also home to Kate's daughter until she ran away at age 17 and never returned. Kate's granddaughter has recently inherited the cabin and offered it to Mia for the summer. The cabin gives Mia a chance to practice fly fishing in the mountain streams, where the serenity helps her heal emotionally and the exercise makes her stronger physically. She also draws strength from Kate, a strong woman ahead of her time, as she reads Kate's journals that were left in the cabin.

I expected to like this book for its setting, the mountains of North Carolina, but I was a little worried that the fly fishing--of which I know nothing--would ruin it. To the contrary, I almost longed for the chance to try such a calming, serene sport as I read about it. As it often is in literature, the river is used here as a metaphor for life, but the author cleverly adds fly fishing as a metaphor for how to live life. I loved the quotes along that line that headed most chapters and were scattered throughout the novel, like this one from Kate's fishing journal:

"You read the water. You study the insects. You ponder different flies. You do all this--and sometimes you find you just have to trust your intuition."

As Mia gets to know Kate through her writing, she wants to investigate the murder mystery and end the gossip. It was a foregone conclusion that Mia was going to overcome her ordeals, but Kate's mystery created enough suspense that I couldn't put the book down.

I also enjoyed the novel for its characters in the small community near the mountain cabin. They reminded me of characters from Jan Karon's Mitford series--the salt-of-the-earth types that everybody would like to have for neighbors.

Highly recommended.

This book arrived with gushing blurbs on the back cover from two of my favorite Southern authors so I saved it until I had an afternoon free to savor every page. Halfway through, I checked the jacket again to verify this was the book to which they referred. It wasn't. Ms. Siddons, Mr. Conroy, my faith in you is restored.

The first half was so unfocused, I couldn't tell what the story was about. Was it about a cancer survivor? A ghost? Fishing? A stranger in a strange land? Girlfriends? When Ms. Monroe finally made up her mind where the novel was going, it really took off and the finish was much stronger than the beginning augured. What a difference it would have made had she rewritten the first half after figuring out where the book was going, getting her facts straight and making the secondary characters more interesting, instead of giving the impression that she stuck in descriptive details as she thought of them.

Because this book arrived in hardcover, with a retail price printed on the inside jacket, I have to believe the publisher considered this edition ready for unleashing on the world, but some glaring technical errors--a child conceived in the late summer of 1929 was seventeen years old in April of 1948; Mia's sister Maddie was older by six years in one place and by four years in another; and the space-time continuum of Mia's summer was frankly science fiction--were inexcusably sloppy and distracting. It is to be hoped they'll be corrected.

Having gotten the negatives out of the way, on to the good stuff. Ms. Monroe very successfully captured the lure of mountain streams and the thrill of catching a fish on a homemade fly, and once the novel got underway, I couldn't wait for more of Kate Watkins' story. I'm sorry she's a fictional character. The final resolution of Kate's and Mia's stories were very satisfactory and believable (though therapists always tell you not to jump into another relationship after a breakup), and I cared enough about Mia to be happy for her. I AM glad I read this book, despite its flaws, and I look forward to reading Ms. Monroe's earlier work.

Big city girl survives breast cancer, discovers her husband is cheating on her, runs off to the mountains to heal, discovers a mystery of sorts in the faraway cabin she retreats too, makes friends with the locals, meets a good looking guy, and there you have it, all the makings of another Lifetime For Women movie or a fancied up romance novel with a hardcover.

The writing felt forced or better yet felt like something coming from a first year student in creative writing class. All of the characters were lacking substance and the entire plot was too contrived to make the story work.

It's a great chicklet book if you're into that sort of reading, but not my particular fare as the entire story was predictable.

Mary Alice Monroe paints a beautiful mystery in this skillfully written love story, Time is a River.

Like her mother, Mia is a victim of breast cancer. Her best friend and sister, Maddie, sent her on a cancer survivor's fishing trip to the mountains of North Carolina where the host, Belle Carson, taught the group the joys of fly fishing. Having survived cancer, Mia returned home to catch her husband, Charles, in bed with a lover. Returning to the mountains of North Carolina to recover, Belle let Mia use her cabin in the mountains rent free for the summer. While there Mia faces her fears and becomes attached to the long dead and mysterious Kate Watkins and town's namesake. Kate's progressive legacy was tarnished by innuendo regarding her married lover's missing status and suspicion that Kate murdered him. In her struggle to find herself, Mia finds diaries and much to Kate's Granddaughter Belle's dismay investigates Kate's life. She shares Kate's love for fly-fishing, uncovers secrets that solve the puzzle of Kate Watkins life, finds new love, and becomes attached to the cabin and town folks as this romantic love story unfolds.

The author's imaginative storytelling and descriptive talents bring the forest and its surroundings to life in this sure to be best selling novel.

I read this book as a part of the Amazon Vine program, and was very excited when it came. It definitely was a page-turner, as it appealed to me on several levels--the heroine was older, was facing health and relationship challenges, was perfecting a new skill, and was even living in a seasonal home in a new community--all life changes that hit close to me. Hence, the tale was gripping as it unfolded to tell how she coped and came to a happy ending. The only part that seemed forced was that the resolution, as pointed out by other reviewers, came in less than three months, which is a bit speedy compared to "real life."
The review gets only four stars because of editorial issues. First, there were typos and word transpositions frequent enough to prove distracting. Second, there were grammatical errors so glaring that I kept stopping and trying to "make it better" before moving ahead. The story takes place in a rural area, and some of the characters were depicted using some sort of so-called "Southern" grammar. Speaking as a Southerner who does not use non-standard grammar, this literary device was unappreciated. In light of the other grammar problems, I was not sure that these were not just editing problems that should have been corrected to make this book a solid five-star offering.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.

Okay, so I admit it. I'm a nature geek. I love trips up into the Blue Ridge Mountains where the clean crisp air and the gentle rustle of billions of leaves sooths my soul. I've always known that there is healing in nature; but, in this day and age, who has the time to truly rediscover our own personal connection with Mother Earth?

Mary Alice Monroe does that with her novel, Time is a River. Through her character, the wounded spirit of cancer survivor, Mia Landon, Monroe guides us through our own reconnection with that which makes us alive. When we meet Mia, she is a wounded soul who has suffered one too many blows. Wasn't it bad enough to suffer through the loss of a breast as well as the indignity of chemo? Must her husband add to her pain through his betrayal? Mia's flight from pain turns into a process of healing which spreads throughout the small town as well as to the reader.

This novel will not thrill, titillate, nor surprise you. What it does do is sooth and lure you into examining your own recovery of spirit in this fast-paced modern world.

I loved this book. It was so heart warming and reminded me of something Anne Rivers Siddons or Pat Conroy would write. That is very high praise coming from me. The characterization was superb and the North Carolina mountains drew me in so that I didn't want to put the book down. I could hear the river and see the magnificent mountains and beauty that surrounded Mia.

Mia, a breast cancer survivor, walked in on her husband and his mistress when she returned home a day early from a fly fishing retreat for cancer survivors. Already in a fragile state of mind, she ran back to the mountains where she had found so much peace, back to her friend, Belle, who taught her to love fly fishing, and the river. Belle generously lets Mia stay in the cabin she had inherited from her mother. At first the cabin is filthy and run down but Mia is determined to make it her home while she sorts out her feelings and tries to figure out what she is going to do with her life. While cleaning she finds a diary written by Belle's grandmother, Kate. Kate had been accused of murdering her lover and as a result, Belle's mother had ran away from home when she was 17 and never looked back. Belle never met her grandmother and grew up on bitter stories told by her mother. Belle told Mia not to mention her grandmother to the townspeople because she didn't want the old scandal stirred up again. Mia wanted to abide by her wishes but once she started reading Kate's diary, she couldn't help herself. She felt a bond with Kate and though she didn't believe in ghosts, she sensed Kate there with her. She had to know more and the only way to do that was to find out what the people in town knew. Did Kate really kill her lover? Why did the town turn against her and make her an outcast in a town named after her family?

Time is a River is a story about forgiveness and self discovery. It's about uncovering hidden truths and acceptance of self. It is a wonderful read

This is a romance novel dressed up as a better book. Girl loses boy, girl finds her "self", girl meets better boy. The problem with trying to dress up that basic plot is that the details have to be convincing, and in Monroe's hands they are not. Mia's character development depends on life lessons learned while fly fishing, but the descriptions written of her fishing experiences make it sound as if the author has never even seen a fishing rod much less held one and learned anything from it. The subplot about the original owner of Mia's cabin, the mysterious Kate, is interesting throughout almost the whole book. However, the contrived resolution provided by a huge summer storm reflects badly on the author's respect for her readers, with a too-pat and very implausible discovery. It's definitely better than a mere junk novel, but falls far short of being insightful or timeless literature.

This novel is the kind that draws me into its depths, and I BECOME the story, walking the woods, wading the river, living in the cabin, reading the diaries, and learning to know the people around me. This is the best compliment I can offer any author, and one that is sincere and from my heart. Thank you.

Mia Landan is a successful, beautiful, seemingly happily married woman who, with her equally attractive attorney husband, is living the enviable life of the privileged and upwardly mobile in Charleston, South Carolina. Events in quick succession - a bout with breast cancer, her husband's infidelity, and the loss of everything she had once thought she held dear - shred the fabric of her life beyond repair.

She chooses to go to ground while she attempts to re-center her life and discover what comes next for a woman who has lost absolutely everything she had considered to be the foundation of her existence. Mia takes up residence in a secluded fishing cabin on the banks of a river in the mountains of North Carolina, near Asheville. In the process of making a temporary home for the summer by cleaning and stocking the long-abandoned cabin, she uncovers mysteries about Kate Watkins, the woman who had lived in the cabin until her death in the 1950s.

With a tenacity the reader soon recognizes as her future saving grace, Mia pieces together the equally shredded life of Kate, the woman who went from landed gentry and much admired sportswoman, to murder suspect and social outcast, all on the eve of the Great Depression in 1929. Through the discovery of diaries, interviews with the locals who remembered Kate as a girl and young woman, and through a mutual love of fly fishing, Mia puts together the pieces of Kate's shattered life as she heals her own.

`Time Is a River' is the story of two strong women, one born in 1900, and one in the 1970s, who seem to reach through the decades to one another through the medium of the river that runs by the cabin in the mountains. The title of the book is taken from Jorge Luis Borges, who wrote, "Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along. But I am the river." It is by finding and following Kate's footsteps, so to speak, that Mia learns to stand firm and independent and unshakable in the currents of the river. When she bends and dips her fingers in the water and says, "Remember me," one pictures her essence joining with that of Kate Watkins and of all the women who have undertaken similar journeys of the soul, past, present and future.

Mia Landan is a successful, beautiful, seemingly happily married woman who, with her equally attractive attorney husband, is living the enviable life of the privileged and upwardly mobile in Charleston, South Carolina. Events in quick succession - a bout with breast cancer, her husband's infidelity, and the loss of everything she had once thought she held dear - shred the fabric of her life beyond repair.

She chooses to go to ground while she attempts to re-center her life and discover what comes next for a woman who has lost absolutely everything she had considered to be the foundation of her existence. Mia takes up residence in a secluded fishing cabin on the banks of a river in the mountains of North Carolina, near Asheville. In the process of making a temporary home for the summer by cleaning and stocking the long-abandoned cabin, she uncovers mysteries about Kate Watkins, the woman who had lived in the cabin until her death in the 1950s.

With a tenacity the reader soon recognizes as her future saving grace, Mia pieces together the equally shredded life of Kate, the woman who went from landed gentry and much admired sportswoman, to murder suspect and social outcast, all on the eve of the Great Depression in 1929. Through the discovery of diaries, interviews with the locals who remembered Kate as a girl and young woman, and through a mutual love of fly fishing, Mia puts together the pieces of Kate's shattered life as she heals her own.

`Time Is a River' is the story of two strong women, one born in 1900, and one in the 1970s, who seem to reach through the decades to one another through the medium of the river that runs by the cabin in the mountains. The title of the book is taken from Jorge Luis Borges, who wrote, "Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along. But I am the river." It is by finding and following Kate's footsteps, so to speak, that Mia learns to stand firm and independent and unshakable in the currents of the river. When she bends and dips her fingers in the water and says, "Remember me," one pictures her essence joining with that of Kate Watkins and of all the women who have undertaken similar journeys of the soul, past, present and future.

In writing "Time Is a River," Mary Alice Monroe has presented readers with an unforgettable work of fiction that is threaded with heart-breaking reality. It is a very emotional "read" that tells the story of a breast cancer survivor. But Mia Landan, the main character, is much more than a survivor; she is a relatively young woman who chooses to graduate from the status of survivor to that of someone who is ready to move forward and discover who she really is. Readers learn that this does not happen overnight; her healing takes place in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina where she finds refuge for a summer. Although she returns to her hometown of Charleston at the end of the book, it is anticipated that one day she will follow the river back to the mountains where she experienced so much more than she had expected.

Initially, Mia had driven from Charleston to Asheville so that she could attend a "Casting for Recovery" retreat that provided support for cancer survivors. There she met Belle Carson, their fly-fishing guide and the leader of the retreat; however, Belle was soon to become her landlord. How and why did this happen? When Mia returned to her home from the retreat earlier than planned, she discovered her husband in her own marriage bed with another woman. My heart ached for Mia as her eyes focused on the woman's breasts; she had two of them while her own body had lost one to surgery in order to save her life. She fled the scene and went back to the mountains where she spent the summer in a rent-free cabin that Belle had inherited. Though it took a lot to get it in livable condition, Mia did so, proving her courage and independence to herself and eventually to others. As she grew less frightened of her surroundings--both inside and outside of the cabin--she began to feel at home, making several friends in the nearby town where she first ventured to shop for supplies.

The plot thickens as Mia discovers the diary of Kate Watkins, Belle's grandmother, who had lived in the cabin for many years prior to her death. Although unproven by facts, everyone in the area seems to believe that Kate Watkins had killed her married lover, the father of her daughter. Mia, through the diary and additional research, comes to appreciate Kate Watkins as a woman who was ahead of her time as far as being independent and the queen of fly-fishing. Though she doesn't believe Kate murdered anyone, Belle had asked her to let the dead alone so that the scandal would stay in the past. She was repeating what her own mother had asked of her. Belle hated her grandmother because of the things her mother had told her---usually when she was in a drunken stupor.

As it turns out, although not intentionally planned, because of Mia, the legend of Kate Watkins becomes news again. When Belle returns from a six-week-trip, she is extremely upset with Mia. No amount of conversation could make things right between them; however, not long afterward, the discovery of some old bones and a follow-up-investigation changes everything!

This book has all the ingredients one could ask for: adventure, mystery, healing, vivid description, and romance. Mia's husband asks for a divorce to marry his mistress, and Mia agrees after reliving lots of heartache and then letting go. She knows that he had been unfaithful because he couldn't handle the cancer and the way it had affected their lives. The words "in sickness and health" did not prove to be true in their marriage. But, while living in the beloved cabin, and fishing in the river, she meets another man who becomes important in her life. This is why I believe that one day she will follow the river, returning to the mountains and the man who told her she was beautiful the way she was--even though she was thinking about having reconstructive breast surgery.

If you want to read a wonderfully written book that holds your interest from the first page to the last, I highly recommend "Time Is a River" as a "must read."