This book is about spousal abuse and low, shallow people. The protagonist, Aday, accidentally kills her husband while defending herself when her husband beats her (and not for the first time). I was disappointed that she spend the rest of the book referring to herself as a murderer. I realize times were different back then for women, but it was still hard to swallow. I was looking for the clever way Aday was going to exonerate herself and take back what was rightfully hers, but she continued to play the downtrodden victim until the very end when she finally stands up to her in-laws. The end was sketchy at best since she leaves behind everything that was rightfully hers, including a man who loves her, and takes her four-year-old step-daughter with her, which is technically kidnapping-the only real crime she commits. I understand she was sacrificing her own happiness and future for the child but I guess I'm a sucker for happy endings and was hoping for something better for Aday and Daisy. I did learn about the great flood, which was the historical element, however, so the book wasn't a complete waste of time. ( )

A beautiful story of what a mother will do for the sake of a child, even a child who isn’t her own, but one she has chosen as her own.

The River Widow is a tragic and heartbreaking novel by best selling author Ann Howard Creel set in the Great Depression during the time of the flood in Paducah, Kentucky. Adah is a young woman who finds herself trapped in an abusive marriage. While they are packing to escape from the flooding river in Paducah, Kentucky during the Great Depression her husband becomes angry, and begins to beat her. Adah defends herself, striking at him with a shovel, and accidentally kills him. While attempting to dispose of his body in the flooded river Adah is swept away by the raging current. She clings to life on the roof of an old barn, and is rescued by a father and son. Desperate to know if her husband has been found, she requests to search for him, but they are unable to find him. With no family, and no where else to go Adah is left with no choice but to move in with her husband’s family with her stepdaughter Daisy. They treat her with suspicion and hate, accusing her of murdering Lester.
With a crooked police officer on their side, Adah not only fears for her life, but is wrought with grief, and guilt over Lester’s death.

“What kind of people would sacrifice a little girl’s happiness in order to get revenge?”

Despite rumors that Lester’s first wife’s death was no accident, the town’s people are too afraid of the Branches’ cruel and violent reputation to reach out to Adah. She is on her own, risking her very life to shield the child she loves from people who care nothing for her.

After solving the mystery of Betsy’s death, Adah begins to make plans to leave with Daisy, but discovers that the Branch’s have been baiting her, expecting her to do exactly what she has been scheming to do. She loses all hope, and abandons her plans, until one dark stormy night, when she gets her chance.

‘’She had but one moment to decide, one moment to leave, or she would miss her chance—one moment to choose the course of the rest of her life and Daisy’s.’’ ( )

Intriguing plot was wasted on a long, slow, repetitive whine from the main character who lacked imagination to get herself out of a bad situation. What felt like it could have been resolved in less than a month took more than a year as seasons passed and the main character whiled away her time bemoaning the situation. And did the stepdaughter ever age? I stayed for the plot but worn down by its telling. ( )