I was reading the latest issue of Audiofile magazine when a title caught my eye: Follow the River by James Alexander Thom. I wonder what prompted Tantor to release this audiobook now. This book was actually published in the 1980s, which I remember because I was obsessed with this book when I was in fifth grade. My fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Weber, was reading the book and every day would come to school and tell us what happened in the chapter she had read the night before. By the end I was so captivated by the story that I begged my Mom to buy me the paperback so I could read it myself.
From what I remember, the story is set in the 18th or 19th century America, in an area that has few American settlers. Mary Ingles lives with her family out in the middle of nowhere, where raids by the Indians constantly kept them in fear. One day, Shawnee Indians raid their little settlement, kidnapping Mary (who is pregnant) and her children. Mary eventually escapes with another woman and they have to walk miles to get back home. It is a dangerous journey and they suffer from starvation, but do finally make it home.
I'm not sure what it was about this particular novel that stuck with me, but it is one of the few books from my childhood that I remember so vividly. I think of it from time to time and consider re-reading it (I still have that paperback my Mom bought me), but I worry that I'll be disappointed this time around. That it won't live up to my memory. Maybe it's just a cheesy paperback. What books from your childhood really stuck with you? Have you re-read them as an adult?
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