the river

Paul Berck, a prisoner of war escapes from a French slave labor camp in late 1947. Nine years later he leaves Germany, well educated in engineering, and arrives in America in 1956, where he begins a breathtaking career. Paul is on the go, young, attractive, and well liked.

In his book, the river Claus Hackenberger tells of a successful young man who gets entangled in a net stitched together with power, money and prestige. The sixties find him crisscrossing the continents and sampling the strobe-lit world of after-hours clubs. At first Paul's response is tempered by touches of guilt, but liquor soon does away with those feelings. Professionally he keeps climbing the ladder, rung by rung, but his personal life begins to disintegrate. Infidelity and the loss of his children scar his soul.

But the river offers more than a tale of broken promises. It talks about a man nearly destroyed by alcohol, a man who is so lonely that at one night he walks the Tacoma Narrows Bridge seeking not to come back. But the running tide far below does not take him. He cries for love. He reaches for God, yet does not understand His answer.

the river bears witness to a man's darkest hours. Burdened by illness and defeat Paul tries to break his cage, to become free, he fails again and again. But the book also speaks to the victory of the human spirit and kindness. Paul survives. He finds peace, and discovers that without forgiveness no dawn will wake a new day.