The River Between Us

The River Between Us
By Richard Peck
Dial Books, 2003. 164 pgs. Young Adult.

The Pruitt family lives in Grand Tower, Illinois, a town divided between Union and Confederate sympathies. Tilly worries about the time when her twin brother Noah will join the Union army and about her younger sister Cassie whose premonitions always come true. These worries take up Tilly’s time until Delphine and Calinda step off the boat from New Orleans and Tilly’s mother invites the two mysterious young women to live with them. Life changes for the Pruitt family with Delphine and Calinda there and as horrors abound as the Civil War rages on and takes Noah with it. Told in two parts, with Tilly telling her story and her grandson telling the other, Peck packs a lot of emotion into this great historical novel.

I enjoyed listening to this on CD. Lina Patel does a good job of distinguishing between the characters, pulling off Delphine’s New Orleans accent. The young man who narrates the prologue and epilogue ably conveys the growth Tilly’s grandson experiences. All in all, this was a great first audio-book experience for me.

MN