All Rivers Run Free by Natasha Carthew

 

This book was part of a pamper package that I won from A Cornish Geek last year.

Blurb from Quercus Books

“A woman on the edge of the sea finds a girl on the edge of life. 

Brittle but not yet broken, Ia Pendilly ekes out a fierce life in a caravan on the coast of Cornwall. In years of living with Bran – her embattled, battering cousin and common law husband – she’s never yet had her own baby. So when she discovers the waif washed up on the shore, Ia takes the risk and rescues her. And the girl, in turn, will rescue something in Ia – “

My thoughts

All Rivers Run Free intrigued me from the start, I loved the idea and the setting. Who doesn’t love Cornwall? When I started to read it I realised it’s actually a dystopian story; a distant future where civilisation has changed. But it’s not about the world ending and how people are going to survive. It’s a story about one person-Ia. I liked Ia and became drawn into her world and her story.

This is a book that you won’t be able to put down. The style is unusual, long sentences with few commars but it’s poetic, it mesmerises you and perfectly captures Ia’s thought patterns and state of  mind. It just works wonderfully.

The author, Natasha Carthew, runs Wild Words workshops and this book really does capture the essence of the natural world and the character is completely in tune with nature herself.

It’s one of those books that I really love but find it hard to put into words how great it is.

I’ve just realised this author has a few books out and I am going to have to read more 🙂