River Walk: A Frontier Story (Five Star First Edition Western Series)

RIVER WALK is history written large. Doris Meredith's review says it best.

Cleary uses real historical figures as characters in her novel of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The viewpoint character is John Collins, whom Cleary describes as "eager and feisty, strong and healthy. He could shoot straight, run fast, drink with the best of them. He could not write his name."

The plot of RIVER WALK is history but Cleary recreates historical figures as they might actually have been. To the raw facts of the Journals of Lewis and Clark, she adds emotion: "fears, loves, joys, bonds of friendship, antagonisms, and personal struggles for fulfillment." How well does she succeed? Very well indeed.

John Collins is as likable as a puppy, sometimes irritating, sometimes a little foolish. When he thinks of leaving, "He wrenched his mind from the nostalgia of loss, the home that was, his parents' persistent struggle to feed their children, and dreamed of empty prairies and the possibilities of new and varied relationships. The seeking and the finding condensed the inspiration that consumed the young man's soul."

Not only does Cleary turn historical facts into historical drama, but she shows us the coming of age of a young man in John Collins. He does not mature easily. When he is sentenced to the whipping post for getting drunk on watch, he is bitter. We watch the resentment whenever the men don't understand or disagree with the Captains' orders. We share Collins' joy as he marries Laughing Water, a young Mandan widow, only to leave her to follow Lewis and Clark toward the shining mountains.

A fine historical novel, and the first of a series about the Lewis and Clark expedition.