It Comes from the River

‘A gritty and captivating tale of resilience, violence and the power of female solidarity’ HARPER'S BAZAAR‘This unflinching debut builds relentlessly to a heart-stoppingly dramatic climax’ DAILY MAIL‘Haunting, lyrical and thoroughly gripping’ CLARE FISHER‘Thrilling, poetic, dark and alive – a shimmering gemstone of a debut’ ALICE ASHFrom the river it comes. To the river it always returns.Alex, Lauren and Nancy are three women each trapped in their own lives, swept along by forces beyond their control. Alex is isolated in her abusive marriage, and struggles to keep her growing family together; Lauren is doing what she can to provide for her two boys; and Nancy dreams of escaping the care home that her son abruptly moved her into.But there’s another character in this story. Beckoning, menacing, hiding within bushes and behind shadows. What unites these women? And can they break the cycles holding them back?

Rachel Bower is an award-winning writer from Bradford. She is the author of two poetry collections and a non-fiction book on literary letters. Her poems and stories have been widely published in literary magazines, including the London Magazine, White Review, Magma and the Rialto. Bower won the London Magazine Short Story Prize and the W&A Short Story Competition in 2020. She has also been listed for the White Review Short Story Prize, the RSL V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize, the BBC Short Story Prize and the Ginkgo Ecopoetry Prize. She lives in Sheffield. It Comes from the River is her first novel.