ALL RIVERS FLOW TO THE SEA

The story opens with the young narrator, Rose, returning to school a month after she and her older sister, Ivy, were involved in a horrific accident at night on a curve in the Adirondacks. Ivy is comatose, and Rose continues to relive the accident as she tries to cope with her grief and guilt. Alison McGhee writes like a poet. Carine Montbertrand paints a vivid picture with the sparse language of McGhee's story. The repetition of the words "Ivy and I had an accident . . ." and the gradual adding of details provide the thread that weaves a whole cloth of love, loss, hope, and acceptance. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 06]