KEY POINTS:
AFTER RIVER
By Donna Milner
Allen & Unwin, $35
Growing up on a dairy farm in the mountains of British Columbia in the late 1960s, teenager Natalie Ward and her three elder brothers appear to live an idyllic existence.
Then the arrival of beautiful, honey-voiced and long-haired American draft-dodger River Jordan tests the morals, beliefs and heart-strings of more than one member of the Ward family. A series of events on one summer's day change the family forever. Scarred, 16-year-old Natalie flees her childhood home, returning only to visit her dying mother 20 years later.
In the same vein as novels by Anita Shreve and Belinda Alexandra, After River delivers a storyline that holds no great surprises, although the clever alternation between past and present events ensures a sustainable and comfortable pace.
