The River - Hardcover

Helen Humphreys is the award-winning author of four books of poetry, seven novels, and two works of creative non-fiction, including the bestselling The Frozen Thames. She has won the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the City of Toronto Book Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Harbourfront Festival Prize. She lives in Kingston, Ontario.

By turns poetic and philosophical (a phenomenology of the river?), a deeply contemplative work best enjoyed over several sittings.” Globe and Mail

Humphreys possesses extraordinary tools and wields them with daring and precision . . . Taken together, Humphreys’ powerful, compressed writing and the phenomenal photographs by Tama Baldwin evoke a sense of mystery and timelessness. The River takes breathtaking risks and hold treasures galore. This important work feels completely honest and earned.” Quill & Quire, starred

Its untarnished eloquence smites the reader on a level of intimate innocence so beautiful that at times it leaves the reader breathless . . . Despite her many awards, Helen Humphreys is an under-appreciated writer who runs as quiet as subterranean as water.” Literary Review of Canada

To gain the fullest appreciation of Humphreys’s method, read The River after The Evening Chorus, a novel she published in the spring of 2015, and better understand the genesis and genius of both . . . A writer of thorough knowing and no wasted words, Humphreys need not expend energy writing a volume on craft. These books together say more about nonfiction’s role in fiction and fiction’s in creative nonfiction than any how-to manual could. And what links them most subtly are redstarts: they flit through the pages of both.” The Malahat Review

Those familiar with the work of Helen Humphreys know that her books are always beautiful and that they often build upon her knowledgeable relationship with nature . . . In The River she furthers her reach and explores the history of the area surrounding the Napanee River as well as the history of the waterway itself . . . The book is richly illustrated . . . But most important to the book is the linkage that holds this all together: the writing.” The Province