The River Between Us
Peck, Richard. 2003. The River Between Us. New York: Dial. ISBN 0-8037-2735-6.
Plot Summary
This story is told from two different points of view. The first and last chapters are told from the perspective of Howard Hutchings as he, his father, and two younger brothers travel from St. Louis to the small town of Grand Tower in southern Illinois in 1916 to visit his elderly relatives. The rest of the story is told from the point of view of Tilly Pruitt who lived in Grand Tower, Illinois, in 1861.
As the Civil War was just beginning, two mysterious girls get off a riverboat in Grand Tower. With no other place to go, the girls, Delphine and Calinda, take Tilly's mother up on her offer of room and board. From that day on, their very normal, hardworking town is turned upside down by these two unconventional young ladies from New Orleans. Delphine, with her fancy dresses, bonnets, and corsets, and Calinda, with her dark skin and tignon for her head were a mystery to the people of Grand Tower.
When the war draws nearer to Grand Tower, Tilly's brother, Noah, leaves in the middle of the night to join the army. Distraught over the prospect of losing her son, Mrs. Pruitt sends Tilly and Delphine to find him and bring him home. Through this, Tilly discovers how her mother views her - despensible, and how she views herself - courageous.
Even though Tilly’s and Delphine’s worlds are very different, they share a friendship that will last a lifetime, and their world's become forever intertwined.
Critical Analysis
This story is filled with instances of the author giving us glimpses of things to come as well as enticing us to read more. One example of this is when Howard’s father was telling him the story of the ghost of a woman who, dressed in old fashioned skirts with gray hair streaming down her back, darts out into the road scaring horses as she runs toward the river. It isn’t until the end of the story that the importance of that story is revealed to the reader.
Peck uses figurative language to create vivid images and show emotions within his characters. “I caught a glimpse of happiness, and saw it was a bird on a branch, fixing to take wing.” This is just one of the many examples found throughout the book. The style of writing and dialogue in the novel reflects the language of the time period and the geographical areas represented in the story.
Richard Peck creates a balance of providing readers with factual elements of the places and happenings of the Civil War while blending elements of storytelling as well. Peck pays close attention to historical accuracy by citing his research and the historical events and locations of the novel in a note section at the end of the story. The various settings in the novel are real places that were researched by Peck. Events that were portrayed in the novel such as the Battle of Belmont were actual events of the Civil War.
Review Excerpts
School Library Journal: "In this thoroughly researched novel, Peck masterfully describes the female Civil War experience, the subtle and not-too-subtle ways the country was changing, and the split in loyalty that separated towns and even families."
Booklist: ”Peck's spare writing has never been more eloquent than in this powerful mystery in which personal secrets drive the plot and reveal the history. True to Tilly's first-person narrative, each sentence is a scrappy, melancholy, wry evocation of character, time, and place, and only the character of Delphine's companion, Calinda, comes close to stereotype.”
Connections
This novel can be paired with a social studies unit on the Civil War to bring a new perspective to this period of history.
Students can create a map and timeline of the events in this novel and of the war in Mississippi River region to deepen their understanding of the events and places in this story.
Related Books
A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck
A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
Book cover from www.librarything.com
