SHORTLISTED 2023 RUBERY BOOK AWARD

FINALIST 2023 IAN BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

"Simply one of the best collections I’ve read in years." — ANDREW X. PHAM, author, Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars and Catfish and Mandala

Rebecca Lawton has spent a lifetime exploring the power and beauty of water, and in her latest collection, What I Never Told You: Stories, she shares a look at life on some of the most treacherous and awe-inspiring waters in North America. From the winding canyon rivers of Utah to the volatile bays of Alaska, the waters in these fifteen linked stories can give life or take it away.

In these pages, readers will meet a diverse cast of characters, each with their own mysterious pasts and struggles. On fast-moving rivers, they find solace and connection, or fight to save the waters they call home. And when water becomes a killer, they must learn to adapt and survive. From the peaceful tranquility of rowing a quiet bay to the heart-pumping adrenaline of running crashing rapids, the waters in this collection have both transformative power and destructive tendencies.

Join Lawton’s characters as they plumb the depths of the Grand Canyon, follow steelhead trout in California's drought-struck streams, and ride Oregon's raging rivers in flood. With her intimate knowledge of these waterways, she paints vivid and haunting scenes that will leave readers captivated and moved.

For fans of adventure and the great outdoors, What I Never Told You is a must-read. It's an unforgettable collection of vignettes that will take you on a journey through the beauty, risk, and danger of the natural world. So grab your life jacket and dive into these unique and powerful waters today.

If you enjoyed the stories in Norman Maclean’s A River Runs through It or Pam Houston’s Cowboys Are My Weakness, you'll love the tales in What I Never Told You. Get your copy now and experience the power of water in an entirely new way.

Published in 2014 as Steelies and Other Endangered Species: Stories on Water by Little Curlew Press (2014), What I Never Told You: Stories has been revised and updated.

“Lawton’s beautifully rendered and accessible stories make you want to move quickly from beginning to end, but I urge you—savor the journey. Breathe in the spirit of each new place.” — PAGE LAMBERT, author, In Search of Kinship and Shifting Stars

"A powerful collection of stories about connections to the wild and necessary land, rivers, and creatures around us. But as part of the wondrous and fragile web made possible by water, it is also a beautiful meditation on the human heart and our essential connections to each other." — JULIAN HOFFMAN, author of The Small Heart of Things

"Lawton enchants the reader with emotional honesty and an intensity that infuses her stories with the beauty of the natural world." — B.C. RIMBEAUX, best-selling author, adventurer, and whitewater guide

"An unforgettable journey on our most beloved element in all its liquid beauty, strength, and potential for violence." — ROGER REAL DROUIN, publisher of Little Curlew Press and author of No Other Way