Dancing the River Lightly

By R.H. Sheldon

Book Overview

River. Dog. Storm. Cop. Rubber boots. Old man. Gay man. Two Mormons. Blackmail. Cascade Mountains. San Juan Islands. Trees by the truckload. Oreo cookies. More storms. Tennessee whiskey. Magic... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0991074106
• ISBN13: 9780991074105
• Release Date: November 2013
• Publisher: Booth & Bohn Press
• Length: 366 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A Review of Dancing the River Lightly

Buckle your seat belts and hang on to your hats, as R.H. Sheldon takes you on a wild, exhilarating ride in the lives of seven compelling characters who encounter each other, the elements, and God, all in the space of one action-packed, life-altering week. When Sheldon first introduces us to the players in his novel, my first thought was how is he EVER going to connect this cast of diverse and distinct characters with each other? I think it is a testament to his skill as a storyteller that Sheldon weaves the chance encounters between a gay man in midlife crisis; an exemplary Mormon housewife and her righteous husband; an earth-mother massage therapist and her frustrated, under-achieving husband; a crusty old retired logger with a mind of his own; and a not easily fooled lesbian detective, all into one coherent and deftly put together tale of adventure, intrigue, spiritual questioning, elemental furies, and above all, personal growth. By the end of the book, I felt that I was in the company of old friends that I had known for years, and had to remind myself that I had only "known" these people for less than a week, such is the talent of Sheldon for making his characters real people with real thoughts, real emotions, real conflicts, real successes, real lives. Yet, despite all this "reality," this story is as much a fabulous fantasy . . . a fantastic fable . . . a fun fiction. The story takes place in the present day Pacific Northwest-all the way from San Juan Islands to Seattle to the town of Index in the Cascade Mountains and areas in between. Sheldon has a real feel for the geography and takes us there as we go along with the characters as they move through their world. Sheldon exposes us to a dark side-blackmail, a suspicious death, a frame-up, resignation, a jealous explosion, and more, but also Sheldon lets us transcend to spiritual visions, heroism, the triumph of love, out-of-body experiences . . . and more. This first novel is packed, it is charged, it literally takes off running, doesn't stop and astonishingly even after all that, it climaxes to almost every character's satisfaction! So, yes, do hold on to your hats and do buckle that seatbelt for this wild, wild ride . . . but also relax . . . just let R. H. Sheldon do the driving . . . enjoy the scenery, your fellow travelers, the adventure behind each twist and turn in the road . . . you're in for a real treat!