The death of her father begins Dorothy Weil s search for what causes the family s spinning of in all directions like the pieces of Chaos. She embarks on a river odyssey, traveling the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi Rivers by steamboat, towboat, and even an old-fashioned flatboat. The river brings her family back, as she records the stories of her fellow river rats: steamboat veterans, deckhands, captains, and cooks.
"The River Home" takes the reader into a world few ever glimpse, that of America s riverboats. In the fast-paced narrative, with incisive characterizations and dialogue, the...

A Good Woman is the story of Mary Lou Friedman, a spunky eighty-five year old whose life slides into chaos when she is threatened by local hoodlums and her husband becomes terminally ill. As Mary Lou fights for her family and home, she revisits her past as a wild farm girl, a naive young bride, an inexperienced mother, and a mature woman discovering her sexuality. Throughout, she copes with the changing expectations and challenges faced by women of the twentieth century, the final hurdle being old age in a world where people live long but receive little respect. Ultimately Mary Lou is...