As a River

Its 1977. Bannen Georgia nestled amid pine forests is rife with contrasts: natural beauty and racial tension small-town charm and long-term poverty. An unsettling place for a Black man who fled it years ago and has since traveled the world. But Greer Michaels has to come home to care for his dying mother. And that means hell have to reckon with the devastating secret that drove him out in the first place. Greers story is intertwined with those of the people around him: His mother Elizabeth who once had a dazzling singing voice but fell silent years ago. Their neighbor Esse who has turned to religion after her own traumatic past. Esses teenaged daughter Ceiley an insatiable reader with a burning curiosity about life beyond Bannens town limits. Written in spare and lyrical prose As a River moves back and forth across decades evoking the mysterious play of memory as it touches upon shame and redemption despair and connection. An exploration of family secrets rooted in the turbulent history of the segregated South As a River is ultimately about our struggles to understand each other and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.