WINNER, Ellen Meloy Desert Writers Award

WINNER, WILLA Literary Award for Original Softcover Fiction

HONOREE, indieB.R.A.G. Medallion in Fiction

“A fresh female voice and a bold take on environmental awareness—great read!” —WILLA judges, Women Writing the West, Golden, Colorado

River guide Madeline Kruse has to choose. As she navigates the rushing waters of Utah’s rivers, she can't help but feel a sense of freedom and escape from her painful past. But when she arrives in the small town of Junction, she realizes that its wild and rugged landscape may may offer more than just a temporary refuge.

She meets alfalfa farmer Chris Sorensen, discovering a kindred spirit and a possible chance at a life by the river. But just as Maddie begins to let herself hope for a future in Junction, outside forces threaten the land and people she has come to love. Will she choose to return to her roots and confront her past, or will she fight to protect the very waters that make up Utah’s lifeblood?

This timeless story "keeps so many dazzling balls in the air: war, love, activism, wilderness . . . in the thriving, vivid community of Junction, Utah" —Jill Koenigsdorf, author of Phoebe and the Ghost of Chagall

"Gripping plot. This tale of two worlds meeting and clashing is timely on so many fronts: environmental, political, and personal." —Jordan Rosenfeld, author of Make A Scene and How to Write a Page Turner

Award-winning author Rebecca Lawton knows water—and the people who love rivers and deep backcountry. In Junction, Utah, she "writes like a child of the wilderness, as she brings together the wild open sky and the rolling hay fields, a river that can't be tamed, and so many more human-and-nature scenes . . . " —Julia Park Tracey, Executive Editor, Sibylline Press