The River Widow

From the bestselling author of The Whiskey Sea comes a stirring novel of a young woman’s survival and liberation during the Great Depression.

On a rain-drenched night in January 1937, the rising floodwaters of the Ohio River encroach on the tobacco farm Adah Branch shares with her husband, Lester. For three years, Adah has endured his violent abuse. On this night, she finally fights back in an act of self-defense that ends in Lester’s death. Knowing she’ll never be exonerated for the crime, Adah hides the truth by surrendering his body to the raging river.

Inventing a story about Lester’s demise, Adah hopes to take her beloved stepdaughter from the grip of her husband’s menacing and suspicious family. Desperate to protect the young girl from their cruelty, Adah devises a plan of escape. But when her feelings deepen for the one man essential to her plan’s success, Adah is forced to make a decision that could put her in greater jeopardy than ever before … or could finally set her free.