Time Is a River

I thought that I had read all of Mary Alice Monroe's books but somehow I missed this one. I listened to it on a long drive and my involvement in this book made the miles fly by.

Mia is a breast cancer survivor on the physical side of recovery but still dealing with it from a mental and emotional standpoint. Her sister sends her to a survivor retreat in the NC mountains called Casting for Recovery, where breast cancer survivors learn to fly fish and connect with nature and each other as a means of recovery. When Mia returns home, she finds her husband in bed with another woman and she flees back to the NC mountains. She rents a small cabin and decides to stay there for the summer to try to figure out her future life and gets involved in show more the mystery surrounding the original owner of the cabin.

As with all of Mary Alice's books, her love of nature and the environment shines throughout this book. The river and the mountains are as much a part of the story as the characters. One additional note, Casting for Recovery is a real group that is involved with breast cancer survivors and I am very impressed with their work.

This is a great book - not only do you get a wonderful story but you get to mentally spend time in the beautiful NC mountains. show less

Time for everyone is measured in different ways....a river was the way to measure time for Mia and the Watkins family who made the town famous.

Mia had just survived a breast cancer ordeal without the support of her husband and was on a retreat for survivors. She had a wonderful time and wanted to hurry home early to share the news with her husband, but she came home to a very unpleasant sight. Her husband was in bed with another woman. Mia tearfully rushed back to the retreat and was offered the use of a cabin by the retreat's leader, Belle, in the town of Watkins Mills. This cabin was the best thing that happened to her...well one of a few best things. The cabin and the town helped her find confidence again as well as love.

The cabin show more wasn't exactly luxury, though, but Mia worked with it and made it her piece of saving grace. In the cabin Mia found diaries and paintings belonging to Kate Watkins, the original owner who was believed to have murdered her lover. Mia began a new investigation of the 80-year-old murder, and the investigation became Mia's quest to find the truth for herself, the town, and for Belle, even though Belle didn't want her to investigate. Mia also found peace, love, new friends, and tranquility as her stay at the cabin continued longer than she had expected. She loved this small town and loved how it helped her get back to her old self.

I enjoyed this book because of the mystery as well as the description of living in a cabin in woods, the wonderful descriptions of the landscape, and feeling the presence of a person who lived there before. This book had intrigue and made me think about my ancestors. The only thing that was tedious was when the author talked about fly fishing in detail...not too interesting.....well not to me. :)

If you like a mystery, finding hidden treasures, reading old diaries, solving old murder cases, gossip, and a sweet love story, you will like TIME IS A RIVER.

This was a book chosen by one of my book clubs. show less

I liked this book so much, especially the way Monroe writes. And there was so much depth to the fishing part--NOT that I'm going fishing anytime soon, but you could feel Mia's absorption into the river and the sport. The mystery story within the story provided a nice layering, especially in the midst of the additional complications of a divorce and a fishing companion. There were so many good descriptions---I could see the cabin in all it's detail.

Mary Alice Monroe's `Time Is a River' explores the needs for self-knowledge and a connection to the world around us. It is the story of a breast-cancer survivor who uses fly-fishing in the hilly steams of North Carolina as a path to self-enlightenment. It is yet another story of women bonding - when Mia Landan, the protagonist, learns that her husband of ten years has been unfaithful, it is her fly-fishing guide Belle who provides a place for her to hide out and come to terms with her situation. While staying in Belle's family cabin, Mia is drawn into uncovering the story of Belle's maternal grandmother - a fly-fisher herself, a naturalist/artist, and a murder suspect. Throughout the novel, strong women unite with strong women to face show more adversity. Bonding and self-enlightment are dominant threads in contemporary women's literature and will have a great appeal to many readers. I simply found Monroe's depiction to be a bit heavy handed.
That said, for me the book has too many stock figures, predictable situations, and easy answers. There are times when a reader looks for a well-worn path, a smooth read, an expected outcome. This is a book for those times. It's an easy read with no real surprises. And sometimes that's a comforting, if not thought-provoking, read. show less

recommended by bookczuk; lovely book that should be savored, so you meander along in it like the healing river. Recovering from breast cancer, Mia discovers that her husband is cheating. Wounded, she goes to the mountains of North Carolina and arranges to stay in an old fishing cabin. The cabin belonged to Belle's grandmother, Kate, who had been an enormously successful fly fisherman and guide. During her stay, Mia finds Kate's diaries about life on the river & takes the woman's inspirational information to heart, where she finally started healing both emotionally and physically.

Recovering from breast cancer and still reeling from the revelation of her husband's infidelity, Mia Landan flees her Charleston home for the healing serenity of the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina. She seeks refuge in a neglected cabin belonging to her fly-fishing instructor, Belle Carson.

Belle has recently inherited the cabin, which once belonged to a grandmother she never knew - a legendary fly fisher and journalist from the 1920s. Kate Watkins may have once been spoken of with great reverence and pride among her peers, but after she is accused of murdering her lover, her life falls into ruins. Her fortune lost in the stock market crash and her reputation utterly destroyed, Kate retreated into seclusion in the remote cabin. show more After her death, the fishing cabin remained locked and virtually abandoned for decades.

Little does Belle realize that by opening the cabin doors to Mia for a summer's sanctuary, she will be reopening the scandal that has plagued her family for generations.

From her first step inside the dusty cabin, Mia is captivated by the remnants of Kate's mysterious story left behind in the eccentric furnishings of her cabin. And though Belle, ashamed of the tabloid scandal that tortured her mother, warns Mia not to fan the flames, Mia feels compelled to find out more about Kate...especially when she discovers Kate's journal.

The inspiring words of a remarkable woman echo across the years; and Mia - just learning to fly-fish - finds Kate's wise words comparing life to a river resonate deeply. She begins a quest to uncover the truth behind the lies. As she searches newspaper archives and listens to the colorful recollections of the local residents, the story of a proud, fiercely independent woman emerges.

Mia feels a strange kinship with the woman who, like her, suffered fears, betrayal, the death of loved ones, and a fall from grace - yet found strength, compassion and, ultimately, forgiveness in her isolation. A truly inspiring story is revealed - timeless in its appeal, with the power to reopen old wounds, but a story which also is a miraculous balm - bringing peace and healing for Mia, for Kate's descendants, and for all those in Mia's new community.

I absolutely enjoyed reading this book. I found that the plot was relatively fast-paced - although there were some scenes that moved along at a more leisurely pace. Overall though, this was a very quick read that drew me in right from the beginning. I was also intrigued by the mysterious subplot and wanted to know what would happen next. I give this book an A! and look forward to reading more from this author in the future. show less

I was really looking forward to reading this book, but I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I’d hoped. It was good – just not excellent, not destined for my “favorites” list or to be recommended to all my friends.

What I really liked about this book:
· A major plot point is a decades-old mystery. This started out pretty slow, but picked up as the book went along. I found myself more interested in the “old” characters and their issues than the “current” characters.
· The descriptions of Appalachia are beautiful. It’s a great place for a story.
· There are a number of strong female characters – the kind I would want to befriend in real life.

Where I was disappointed:
· The book didn’t go as deep into the breast-cancer show more survival emotions as I’d hoped.
· The supernatural theme wasn’t as strong as I’d hoped.
· The fly-fishing theme was too strong for my taste. I am outdoorsy, but not a fisherman. show less