SAINTS AT THE RIVER begins with its main issue, the issue at the center of the story. I think of it as prologue, although that’s not what Ron Rash calls it. As always, he writes it beautifully and it was promising, the way all prologues should be. It made me anxious to read more.

A girl drowns in the Tamassee River in a rural town in South Carolina. This becomes a big controversy, not only in that town but in the country because divers cannot get to her body without first damaging the riverbed. Doing so would violate conservation laws, and, say environmentalists, set a president for others to cause more damage when it is in their business interests.

But the girl's parents want to give their daughter a proper burial. So they need to get her body out of that river, and they find someone who claims to be able to do that.

But the townspeople know the river better than these “outsiders.” They know that trying to alter that river is flirting with danger.

One large newspaper covering this story sends its star reporter to that town, along with a photographer who coincidentally grew up there. They try not to take sides. But the reporter, Allen, recently lost his wife and daughter in a car accident so tends to sympathize with the girl’s parents. On the other hand, a few years ago the photographer, Maggie, was an environmentalist working alongside the protesters. But even she tends to sympathize with the girl’s parents. Maggie at least understands both sides of the issue.

Although townspeople warn of the danger of tampering with this fast–moving river and although doing so is against the law, a man is permitted to erect a temporary dam in hopes that divers will be better able to get to the girl’s body.

Then all hell breaks loose. And Maggie, who has been understanding both sides of the issue, has now earned the wrath of most of her old friends and neighbors and, especially, of her old lover.

SAINTS AT THE RIVER is Rash's second book. I am so glad I finally found it. ( )

Maggie is a child of the mountains, but she has been away from the mountains for a time, going to college and then working in Columbia, embracing the big city as a newspaper photographer. When a young girl drowns in the Tamassee River and is trapped there, her parents want to bring the body up at any cost, environmentalists fear the cost will be the destruction of the river itself. The stage is set for a battle, and Maggie finds herself in the middle, with a lot of personal baggage on both sides of the issue.

The story is a tad predictable in spots and over before you wish it to be. There is a cliche romance, but it does not dominate the story. These elements keep it from being great, but there are moments when it comes mighty close. Even though the environmental side cited Wendell Berry, which ought to have landed me solidly in their camp, I could see this through the eyes of the parents as well, you would want your daughter’s body. It would seem inconceivable that you would just go home and leave her there. In fact, what I admire most about Rash’s treatment here was that it was not preachy but realistic, right down to including all the players who come on the scene just to gain a political edge, money or recognition.

The river itself becomes almost a character, with a voice and a will that cannot be manipulated by a mere human.

Wolf Cliff is a place where nature has gone out of its way to make humans feel insignificant. The cliff itself is two hundred feet of granite that looms over the gorge. A fissure jags down its gray face like a piece of black embedded lightning. The river tightens and deepens. Even water that looks calm moves quick and dangerous. Mid-river fifty yards above the falls a beech tree thick as a telephone pole balances like a footbridge on two haystack-tall boulders. A spring flood set it there twelve years ago.

The characters make poignant arguments:

It's nice to know there is something in the world that’s uncorrupted. Something that can’t be bought and cut up into pieces so somebody can make money off it.

I particularly loved this example from a character who wished to leave the body where it lay:

…the girl’s body is the Tamassee’s now…the moment she stepped in the shallows she accepted the river on its own terms. That’s what the wilderness is – nature on its own terms, not ours, and there’s no middle ground. It either is or it isn’t.

The Appalachians are still a distinct and different region, with some of the best of what is old-fashioned intact, like community and loyalty. There is also a wisdom there that comes from the harder life and knowing nature in a way city-folk simply find it hard to comprehend. Perhaps because most people raised in a city don’t even realize that they cannot see the stars at night the way God meant them to be seen.

This is an early work for Ron Rash, and if you have read any of his later books, you will recognize the immaturity here, but there is also that hint of great things to come. After a rocky start with [b:Serena|2815590|Serena|Ron Rash|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347430224l/2815590._SX50_.jpg|2841515], which I simply could not bring myself to love, I have read enough of Ron Rash to become a dyed-in-the-wool fan. As my Daddy would have said, “he is a t.c. huzzy”. It’s a compliment...means a very special one of a kind.

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Rash is a better poet than a novelist. He has a beautiful command of the language, but his characters lack depth. The female protagonist is merely a caricature of a young woman--obsessed with men, sex, and looks. ( )

I loved this book for the richness of language and story. The characters are memorable, the struggle is one that focuses on the emotional tensions that run high during a tragedy. There are layers to the narrative that I enjoy, from the point of view of the family of the victim, the rescuers, and the reporters sent to cover the story. For me, Ron's books always provide a window into the very best and worst parts of human nature, and this is no exception. ( )

Rash's prose creates clear images of his characters and locations. The characters behave true to themselves so that I understand their actions. This book is a study of a tragedy and the impact on a federally designated wild and natural river. Each person's views are described so coherently and beautifully. l love his works. ( )