Now only the river can continue telling her story. And she will not tell all she knows because she understands that some of her stories we couldn’t bear. But to the stories she does tell us, we respond like little children and say, “Tell us more...”
When Josh, a Catholic priest, and Joyce, a Native American, meet in northern Michigan at Saint Peter the Fisherman Mission Church on the banks of the Black River—a premier fly-fishing stream for brook trout—their attraction is evident. Each embraces a separate spiritual heritage but struggles with an inner sensual demon. They fall in love, but their love must prove strong enough to bridge that spiritual gap and assuage Josh’s guilt and Joyce’s anguish. Their relationship is facilitated by Josh’s 89-year-old fly-fishing mentor, Ted, and his Labrador retriever, Molly. The river is the main stream running through Josh and Joyce’s story, but the novel is definitely not mainstream. It slips over into fantasy, fable, and the enchantment of nature as our protagonists try to survive against the backdrop of murder, a gambling casino, a mission church of serpent handlers, and accidental oil spills. Their only escape is the lure of the river and its promises of comfort, calm, and each other. Rapture River is a romance, a murder mystery, and an escapist tale. But above all, it is a magical quest for fulfillment in our strange times.
