BOOKS FROM LATVIAThe River
Tags:
Set in Latvia
Female author
Description:
Rute is no stranger to displacement and loss. As a child, she and her older sister, Dina, were subject to their mother's romantic whims. Then, when the sisters were in their late twenties, Dina disappeared. Rute has become a husk of her former self, going through the motions in work, life, and love, composing daily letters to Dina in the hopes they'll one day see each other again. When the sisters' biological father, Jūle, dies, Rute unexpectedly inherits his country property. Curious about this man she's never really known. Once in the countryside, she meets Matilde, the young, single mother from next door who (along with her brother Kristof) was practically raised by Jūle. Rute learns about Jūle, a generous soul whose door and heart were always open to those less fortunate... Laura Vinogradova River is a tightly crafted work that defies resolutions and endings, instead hailing the importance and beauty of the personal journey to one's internal truths and external freedoms.
