Where the Rivers Merge (The Rivers Duology #1) by Mary Alice Monroe

 

Summary (from the publisher): From New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe comes her highly anticipated Where the Rivers Merge, the first of two epic and triumphant novels celebrating one intrepid woman's life across multiple generations in the American South.

1908: The Lowcountry of South Carolina is at the cusp of change. Mayfield, the grand estate held for generations by the Rivers family, is the treasured home of young Eliza. A free spirit, she refuses to be confined by societal norms and spends her days exploring the vast property, observing wildlife, and riding horses. But the Great War, coastal storms, and family turmoil bring unexpected challenges to Eliza, putting her on a collision course with the patriarchal traditions of a bygone era.

1988: At 88, Eliza is the scion of the Rivers/DeLancey family. She’s fought a lifetime to save her beloved Mayfield and is too independent and committed to quietly retire and leave the fate of the estate to her greedy son. She must make decisions that will assure the future of the land and her family—or watch them both be split apart.

Set against the evocative landscape of the twentieth-century Lowcountry, Where the Rivers Merge is a dramatic and sweeping multigenerational family story of unyielding love, lessons learned, profound sacrifices, and the indomitable spirit of a woman determined to persevere in the face of change in order to protect her family legacy and the land she loves.

Review: Eliza Rivers grew up in the lowcountry of South Carolina. In 1908, Eliza is a young girl and the world she is born into is on the cusp of great change. Mayfield, the grand estate where she is raised is the greatly beloved family home and gives Eliza the chance to roam and explore on horseback. But the Great War brings changes both to her family and the world of Mayfield. In 1988, Eliza is the matriarch of her family and has fought hard to save her beloved Mayfield. Facing her own mortality, Eliza refuses to leave her home to the greedy clutches of her home and knows she must make decisions now to ensure its survival. 

Told in dual narratives, this book jumps back and forth between 1988 and 1908. I did like that we get to see Eliza at the end of her life and see her slowly telling her life story to her granddaughter, but of course I was more interested in the 1908 storyline overall, but conveniently that is also where the bulk of the novel lies. I liked the lush descriptions of South Carolina and the Mayfield estate and love that we get to see it across generations in this book. 

I did appreciate the depiction of Eliza's friendship with a person of color, which was not tolerated in the early 1900s society in which she is raised beyond outside on the estate. I loved that Eliza fights to maintain this friendship and honor it, although she comes across exceedingly naive in refusing to acknowledge the societal prejudice of the time. 

I listened to this on audio and it did drag a bit for me. There is a lot of time spent on Eliza's early chapters, but they mostly felt like concerns of a young girl and just not super compelling. I understand they were laying the groundwork for her adult life, but it felt long winded. I also never really got a sense of emotional depth between Eliza and her love interests. 

This is the first book in a duology, and it certainly leaves a lot of narrative threads hanging for book two. I'm not sure if I'm interested enough to continue but I did appreciate aspects of this sweeping Southern novel about a world on the cusp of change. 

Stars: 3