Book excerpt: River People is a powerful novel with unforgettable characters. In Nebraska in the late 1890s, seventeen-year-old Effie and eleven-year-old Bridget must struggle to endure at a time when women and children have few rights and society looks upon domestic abuse as a private, family matter. The story is told through the eyes of the girls as they learn to survive under grueling circumstances. River People is a novel of inspiration, love, loss, and renewal.