Go as a River: A Novel

Written by Shelley Read in 2023, Go As a River is a historical fiction novel set in the mountain town of Iola during the construction of the Blue Mesa Dam in the 1960s. This dam eventually flooded the town in order to create the reservoir. To explore the displacement of Iola’s population of hundreds of multigenerational family farmers, the novel uses the singular narrative of Victoria Nash, a fictional peach farmer living through relocation and loss. Read is herself a fifth-generation Coloradoan and was a literature lecturer at Western Colorado University for three decades. This is her debut novel, which is an international bestseller and has been optioned for a film.

This guide refers to the 2023 Kindle edition published by Spiegel & Grau.

Content Warning: Go As a River features racism and racist violence, hate crimes, the legacy of colonialism, and threats of sexual assault, which this guide discusses. The novel also uses offensive terms to refer to Indigenous Americans, which this guide quotes to undertake a critical and literary analysis of the text.

Plot Summary

In 1948, 17-year-old Victoria Nash meets a mysterious stranger on the road into the small mountain town of Iola from her family’s peach farm.