William Kent Krueger · 2019 · river

William Kent Krueger's 2019 novel, an Odyssey set on the rivers of the American heartland in the summer of 1932. Four orphans, fleeing a cruel Indian boarding school in southwestern Minnesota, take to a canoe and ride the Gilead, the Minnesota and the Mississippi south toward St Louis and the only family they have left, meeting along the way the whole drifting cast of Depression-era America. Part Huckleberry Finn, part Grapes of Wrath.

1. 1
   Lincoln School

   Four orphans flee the brutal Lincoln Indian Training School in a stolen canoe, a sheriff and a terrible crime behind them.

2. 2
   Mankato

   Down the Gilead and the Minnesota River, past Mankato, into the heart of a Depression-stricken land.

3. 3
   St Paul

   To the great confluence at St Paul, and the Jewish flats, where the Minnesota gives onto the Mississippi.

4. 4
   Hannibal

   Down the Mississippi now, through the country of Huck Finn, among faith healers, Hoovervilles and lost souls.

5. 5
   St Louis

   And at last St Louis, and the family they hardly dared hope to find.