The river is rising in Fertile, Missouri, a picturesque Depression-era town in Dorothy Garlock’s new tale of Americana romance titled RIVER RISING.  There is a widow plotting her revenge for the loss of a husband she blames on the town’s women.  There is a doctor seeking to protect the woman he loves from a prejudice he knows will never accept her in his life.  There is new woman moving to town hoping to serve the community as its only doctor’s nurse without seeing her heart broken by the attention of all the men vying for romance.

Such is the challenge facing April Asbury, Dr. Todd Forbes new nurse.  She arrives in Fertile, hoping for some hometown goodness; and from the Jones family – her initial impression of the community – this is exactly what she receives.  Joe Jones and his six siblings, along with a father and a stepmother, exude a semblance of Waltonesque charm. 

April’s first impression of the people, who reside within Fertile, aside from the doctor whom she previously met, comes in the presence of Shirley Poole and her brother, Fred. 

Mrs. Poole shows herself as an anti-social, suspicious brooding woman who chastises April for anything she does that lies even remotely outside the woman’s purview as right and good.  Her brother Fred, who convinced his sister to rent the room, is friendlier, but he gives April the creeps.  Both carry secrets that when revealed makes one understand why.

 Dr. Forbes, as April quickly discovers, is a magnet for the female population of Fertile.  The town’s single women are constantly bringing him home-cooked treats in an effort to garner his attention. They call upon him at all time.  While the doctor is polite and kind, his love is reserved for one woman, Caroline Deval, who lives down by the river in Shanty Town .

April, meanwhile, is drawing the rabid attention of the handsome flirt of a charmer Joe Jones.  Is he the man who would remain faithful to her heart; or is he just another one of the typical males attracted to the new pretty face? 

And what of Dr. Forbes?  He is quietly soliciting jobs in places he believes his relationship with Caroline will be accepted and not result in imprisonment.

            It’s all about the love.  Or is it?

My perspective on love is different from what I found displayed in RIVER RISING, which makes a review of the book difficult. I enjoyed the story.  It held my interest with a setting I can relate to and characters I liked. The Jones family carried parallels with my own.  My father had five siblings, while my mother grew up in that same day and age with eight.  The Jones clan, of course, consists of four brothers and three sisters.  

However, there was never a clear picture of who these people were.  I was offered a name, along with a bit of what drew their attention, but it was nothing more than what one might read in a newspaper story of the ‘Spotlight Person of the Week’.  A good example of this is Dr. Forbes.  I kept seeing him as an old Doc Adams of Gunsmoke lore, even though he is described as a handsome young man in his thirties. 

Though he is an outstanding doctor who sincerely cares for the wellbeing of Fertile’s townsfolk, his love for Caroline Deval never came clear as anything more than compassion for a woman in need.  She is as submissive in her responsiveness to him as April is to Joe Jones.  Who are these women, and what do they want of a husband?  Perhaps, this was the typical mentality of women in those days.  I don’t know.  I would have liked to have known their hearts, what they hope for out of a man (April fears a broken heart, but that’s all a reader is told.).  The affections of Joe and Dr. Forbes would then have appeared less shallow and more real.

I believe some of this dissatisfaction can be related to the sexual component of the story.  It begins with the evil nature of the deceased Ron Poole’s sexual crimes, which I thought might offer something unique to a story of this time period and place.  Unfortunately, rather than adding a bit of 21^st century edge to a time period that never talked about those things we hear far too much today, the physical attraction of sexual activity takes the place of a genuine heartfelt pull romance should be.  

While sex is certainly a component of romance, to make it the sole component commits the Playboy heresy of physical attractiveness brings pleasure which establishes love.

I see this in the burgeoning relationship between Joe and April.  He is clearly attracted to her beauty, and I was waiting for April to confront him over his incessant lusting over her physical pleasures; but she remains silent, enjoying the physical closeness just as much as he, diluting the honest depth of love that should be there.

Joe’s brother Jack is shot at one point in the story, which brings his former girlfriend Ruby rushing to his side.  Why not develop that storyline better?  Why not have the shooting victim be Joe instead?  Develop a time for him and April to actually get to know one another.  Then you would have had a relationship to sink one’s literary teeth into.