"Strength, I had learned, was like this littered forest floor, built of small triumphs and infinite blunders, sunny hours followed by sudden storms that tore it all down. We are one and all alike if for no other reason than the excruciating and beautiful way we grow piece by unpredictable piece, falling, pushing from the debris, rising again, and hoping for the best".

I picked this one up because of the (doubleday canada) cover, read the blurb and just knew it would be an amazing story. We follow our protagonist Victoria Nash over the course of 22 years from adolescence as she is shaped by the land and in turn shapes the land around her. Through romance, loss, triumph, friendship and her connection with nature she navigates her life and gives us a very raw depiction of how we not only flow forward through life against the obstacles in our path, but we also carry our experiences with us, like a river.

I devoured this story in less than two days and it had me in tears throughout. It's a story of heartache, grief, sadness, triumph, perseverance and the strength of women. The way the author intertwines human emotion with the natural world is incredible and so deeply moving. This is definitely one that will stay with me for a long time.