Out & About November 2017

OA books

The River at Night by Erica Ferencik is a white water, white knuckle ride. HELEN SHEEHAN and LISSA GIBBINS are gripped by the unexpectedly terrfiying turn of events for four friends on an adventure holiday In deep water Winifred Allen needs a vacation. Stifled by a soul-crushing job, devastated by the death of her beloved brother, and lonely after the end of a fifteen-year marriage, Wini is feeling vulnerable. So when her three best friends insist on a high-octane getaway for their annual girls’ trip, she signs on, despite her misgivings.

What starts out as an invigorating hiking and rafting excursion in the remote Allagash Wilderness soon becomes an all-too-real nightmare: A freak accident leaves the women stranded, separating them from their raft and everything they need to survive. When night descends, a fire on the mountainside lures them to a ramshackle camp that appears to be their lifeline. But as Wini and her friends grasp the true intent of their supposed saviors, long buried secrets emerge and lifelong allegiances are put to the test. To survive, Wini must reach beyond the world she knows to harness an inner strength she never knew she possessed.

T he River at Night is a thrilling roller- It’s the story of an ill-fated holiday, which four women, long-time friends, have planned in order to escape the rigour of their daily lives, jobs and families. They have enjoyed these annual breaks, in various pretty destinations, for the past 15, but this year, Pia, the most adventurous of the friends, has proposed a white-water rafting trip on the Winnegosset River in Maine: “One of the reasons this place is so awesome is because no one knows about it yet”. The friends, Win (the narrator), Pia, Rachel and Sandra set off from Boston to Maine, with some trepidation. coaster ride of a book, impossible to put down and action-packed from the start. Their destination is remote, the rafting a challenge and their guide, Rory, “…a dreadlocked young man, fit and strapping”, who “fairly exploded through the doorway”, is very young and his experience as a guide questionable. The few locals they encounter on their way to river are not friendly, which only exacerbates their unease, “…the hunter dropped his arm heavily to his side and stepped away from the door, just enough for us to pass through”. After a considerable time trekking, with Rory in the lead, the four adventurous holiday-makers arrive at the river: “I listened to the river, a constant but not unpleasant roar through the woods beyond us”. There is an uncomfortable night under canvas on the banks of the gushing river before, with great eagerness, they finally get going. Win is struck by just how far away from civilisation they are: “It was our second day in the woods and we were days away from home”.

by my friends”. These women are likeable and knowing that they are heading towards something dreadful increases your tension and fear for them as you turn each page. The river, at times raging and furious and then suddenly deceptively quiet, verges on being a character in its own right. Rory has named the parts of the river they will be navigating: “The Tooth marked the point where the river narrowed for the first time; a few turns later a red X indicated The Hungry Mother…followed by the Royal Flush, Satin’s Staircase, and – where the river grew wide – The Willows”. Satin’s Staircase in particular, a rolling stretch of rapids and swirling pools, presents our exhausted group with extreme difficulties. The woods surrounding the river offer shelter of a sort from the rushing water, but the wildlife they contain, including bears, are a constant threat, and at times: “The forest that lined the river was impenetrable… root systems and tangled brush forced us down into the river itself”. Traditionally, in a fast-paced thriller with physical action, brute strength and split-second life-saving decisions, male protagonists tend to dominate. Not so in The River at Night – the women are forced to tackle all this and more, and a good job they make of it too. While you are horrified by their ordeal, you are rooting for them all the way, and each small triumph or difficulty overcome is cause for the reader to celebrate. This book is excellent – it’s relentless, exciting, terrifying and gripping from start to finish. And it’ll probably have you reconsidering any future white-water rafting plans.

The raft, heavy and cumbersome to launch into the water, is packed with all their gear and Rory runs through instructions and safety tips, which are to prove invaluable as events unfold: “We steer into the rapids, not away from them” and “If we bail in some big water, you want your feet up, toes up…and keep your arms high”. From the beginning Win hints that disaster lies ahead: “The brave smart thing would have been to back out… and grab a bus home”. When that disaster hits, in a sudden, shocking moment, the lives of the women are immediately thrown into great danger; they are ill-prepared and frightened in a wild land that has no mercy. Of course there is no phone signal, and no help to be found. Added to their considerable fears, Sandra believes there is peril in the woods: “I think I saw someone…a person or something…it was so fast”. The scene is set for a terrifying adventure in the wilderness, in which each woman will be tested to the very edge of her reason and physical ability, and where friendships will implode and have to be re-forged. And always, in the background, menacing and murmuring, is the river at night, and that is no place to be. Erica Ferencik manages to engage our sympathy with each of the women from the outset. Pia is confident and beautiful with a successful career but no partner, while Win is recovering from a brutal divorce and the death of her beloved brother, Marcus. Sandra is a gentle soul and a devoted mother and Rachel, a highly-trained nurse, is the most cautious of the four. Their friendship has its tensions, which Win is particularly sensitive to: “I came on this trip out of loneliness and fear of being left behind

Helen Sheehan and Lissa Gibbins are writers and owners of Aide Memoire, Great Bedwyn. Inspired by their passion for words, they write memoirs, edit novels and documents and proofread for a wide range of clients. Email: lissa@aidememoire.biz helen@aidememoire.biz

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