DOWN TO THE RIVER is a sophisticated family saga perfect for fans of Mary Beth Keane, Jonathan Franzen, and Lauren Groff.

The time period in the late 1960s and the setting in Cambridge, Massachusetts are rendered with excellent attention to detail so the reader feels immersed in the story world. Pierce is also skilled at dialogue, ensuring that each exchange between the characters rings true.

Given the social and political unrest of the time, there are no easy, feel-good solutions, but the story is propelled forward by the threat of impending disintegration and upheaval as the family attempts to weather change both within and without.

Highly recommended for fans of realistic, literary family dramas.

‘The barnyard names were just coincidence, the rest was by design.’

Naylor (Nash) and Remington (Remi) Potts are identical twin brothers living in Cambridge Massachusetts. Born into a wealthy family and Harvard-educated, Nash and Remi are partners is a sporting goods store in Harvard Square. They married Faye and Violet in a double wedding and occupy houses next to each other on Hemlock Street. Both couples have three children, with their third children born in 1951. Nash and Violet had three daughters: Persephone (Seph), Janie and Minerva (Chickie). Remi and Faye are the parents of Cameron (Buzz), Victoria (Tory) and Henry (Hen). Chickie and Hen are much younger than their siblings, born after their fathers made a bet in a bar, and grow up during the turbulent 1960s.

In the meantime, the family wealth is disappearing, the twins’ marriages are crumbling, and the social rules are disintegrating. Chickie and Hen, released from the parental restrictions their siblings endured, are free to negotiate their own paths through a world coloured by the politics of the Vietnam War, racial tensions, sex, drugs and rock and roll.

Those of us who were alive in the 1960s will be familiar with some of the issues covered and the social upheaval experienced. However, it took me a while to become familiar with the characters and to appreciate their circumstances. Aspects of the story made me uncomfortable, while the inevitable disintegration of the family units seemed sad. Privilege and wealth do not last forever, and the 1960s turned the world upside down for many. I finished the novel wondering what the future held for Chickie and Hen.

‘Pray for the babies.’

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and the Meryl Moss Media Group for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

The times changed drastically form the 1950s to the 1960s. The families of twins Remi and Nash, two different yet same households roughly transition into a time fo free love, of pot, of war. The novel is saga of the families-the wants, the desires, the questions, and the good/bad changes. For those who lived those ears, it is a torn memory in time. For those who didn’t, it is a colorful, agonizing page of history.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received an ARC of, Down to the River by, Anne Whitney Pierce. Im so glad I was not around in the 60"s. Just not my scene. I could not finish this book, the lack of morals and integrity, really got to me.