Book pages

Discovered a Nebraska writer who writes about Missouri, and thought her latest book, which takes place in MO, was worth a book talk. Jonis Agee is the author, and the book is entitled "River Wife". The story begins during the New Madrid earthquake, in 1811, and centers on a young teen girl, Annie, who is abandoned by her family during the earthquake, because their cabin collapses on her, her legs are crushed, and they leave her to a certain death. She is rescued by a French trapper, Jacques, who cares for her and eventually falls in love with her. They marry, open an inn for river travelers on the Mississippi, and he becomes a pirate. Boats are deliberately led astray onto shoals and banks so he and his buddies can strip them, passengers and crew members are murdered for their cash and jewels and Jacques begins to build a grand house to store his wealth. Fast forward to the 1930's, future generations of this same family. Clement, a grandson, brings his new bride back to the house and becomes a whiskey smuggler during prohibition. Again, wealth is brought to the family, along with great pain, because he gets caught up in murder, prostitution, and general violence. The stories are told in Annie's diary, and by Clement's wife Hedie, and describe a different river life from Mark Twain's, yet with the same sense of yarn spinning. The perfect book to grab and read while you set beneath your porch ceiling fan and wait out the heat and humidity.