Pushing the River

By: Barbara Monier

Narrated by: Harper Lane

Bronze medal winner, literary fiction, 2019 Readers’ Favorite Awards.

In Pushing the River, Barbara Monier’s third novel, a family crisis erupts when a 15-year-old becomes pregnant and decides to keep the baby.

Madeline describes her house as an empty shell inhabited by ghosts. She has been living alone for years, keeping to a few rooms, surrounded by the possessions of her ex-husband and grown children. Over the course of four months, people accumulate in the household one by one - including Madeline’s new love interest, who unexpectedly shows up carrying grocery bags full of his clothes.

Pushing the River is told largely through Madeline’s eyes. As we discover how she came to “push the river”, the unfolding action is interspersed with Madeline’s memories of her own mother, driving a message of sometimes-anarchic confusion, occasional angst, and powerfully abiding love across the generations of a familiar American family.

©2018 Barbara Monier (P)2021 Barbara Monier

Critic reviews

“A remarkable book. An unbelievable pleasure. Stylish. Packs an emotional punch.” (Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune)

Emotional experience

I just completed listening.
I’m sad the story is already over. I will listen again. I enjoyed the emotional depth, laughter, grief, joy, and fierce keeping of family traditions. The narrator is soothing and easy to listen to. This book resonated with me on many levels and I think it will with you too.

A story of family grit. Very relatable.

This was definitely a book that I did not want to end. Not only did I enjoy getting to know the characters in this story who were very relatable, I also looked forward to hearing Harper Lane narrate the book each time I listened. I especially enjoyed the written dialogue between family members in this story. I felt myself take sides in the different dilemmas. I cheered, I laughed, I got upset at times. It was a whirlwind of emotions as the story unfolded. The narrator did an awesome job differentiating between characters. I was sad when this audible ended but I will listen to it over again. I’m eager to check out more from both the author and the narrator!