Get Your Copy The River Sings Scripted By Sandra Leigh Price Available In Online Book

in the earlyth century, Eglantine Stark is the daughter of a Faginlike thief, Amberline, and brought up in the family trade.
But she lives as a lady with a woman named Makepeace as her servant, Interwoven is the story of her mother Patrin, a gypsy, who as a teenaged girl falls in love with her cousin Amberline, He is a thief through and through, not just of things that glitter, destroying a family, and a community, However, Eglantine knows not of these things and cannot help but love her father, even while she learns of her gypsy inheritance, The language and story is glorious, Enchanting and lyrical and just an all round gorgeous read, I was drawn in immediately and surfaced a few days later, my head still swirling with all the gorgeous motifs in this book water, gypsies, songs sung around a roaring fire, the rat catcher's trade.
And it's all wrapped up in the most delectable prose, At its heart, this is a story about a mother's connection to her daughter and about how this bond transcends time, This one's a keeper. Eglantines father is a thief, his pockets full of treasure and his mouth full of lies and secrets, He keeps Eglantine and a maid, Makepeace, in comfort and style until he is caught and sentenced to transportation to the penal colony of Australia.
Eglantine must make her own way in the world, armed with the only thing her father taught her: how to thieve and steal.
But Eglantine wants more in her life, to connect with the past her father has kept secret and to be more than a thief.


The River Sings was a book I found initially hard to get into, but one I ended up really enjoying, practically ripping through the pages to reach the ending.
Its quite a captivating tale of a girl growing up in isolation and finding her own independence, and discovering the heritage that was denied her.


The book is told in alternating viewpoints: Eglantine fromon, and her mother, Patrin, fromon, Both narrators are engaging, even if I did want to desperately shake Patrin and demand what she saw in Amberline her attachment to him made little sense in the face of his behaviour, her mothers reactions to him, and the sacrifices he demanded of her.
While the dual narrator device does work and both characters are appealing, I found myself a bit confused in later chapters, where there would be a big timeline shift occurring between chapters, and Id begin a chapter, confused and wondering if the previous chapter was a fever dream.


The prose is poetic and evocative, the setting well depicted its a vivid world, one I wouldnt mind spending more time in.
Through meticulous research and the compilation of historical facts, Australian author Sandra Leigh Price has

the enviable capacity to transport the reader into another time and place.
Her debut novel The Birds Child also reviewed on this page was a magical tale of Sydney life in thes, and her recent novel The River Sings HarperCollinsis another captivating story of ancient power and superstition of gypsies, queens and thieves of the mystery of water and of the strength of love, both parental and romantic.
The narrative is told in two separate alternating sections, beginning inas Romany woman Patrin gives birth to her daughter in a river, and switching to the life of that child, Eglantine, some eight or nine years later.
Right from the start we are confounded as to what has happened Eglantine appears to be living in a fine house with her father and a housemaid, but what has happened to her mother Patrin, and her band of gypsies Eglantines father, Amberline Stark, seems prosperous and garrulous, but what secrets is he keeping from his daughter about her heritage As the tale unfolds, and we are given insights into the lives of both these young women, the mystery deepens and the tension rises as we begin to comprehend the terrible wrongs that have been committed, the truths that have been withheld, the lies that have festered, and the betrayal that has occurred.
Eglantines most treasured possession, a little handmade wooden doll, is her only link to her unremembered past, When her father is caught thieving and sentenced to transportation to the penal colony of New South Wales, Eglantine must survive on her wits and the training her father has given her as a pickpocket.
As she grows, and with her questions unanswered, Eglantine becomes determined to uncover the truth about her family, and to capture love and stability, and a different kind of life, for herself.

Whilst this is a historical fiction novel, the worldbuilding scaffolding constructed by the author is almost like a mystical fantasy, particularly regarding the culture of the community of the Romany Gypsies, which is depicted in stark contrast to other ways of life.
The travellers music and food, their habits and superstitions and beliefs, their celebrations, all are drawn with a keen eye for small details that creates an authentic and believable portrait.
Similarly, the lot of the English poor, the comfortable life of the richer merchant dandies, and the tribulations of the colonial settlers and their interaction with the first peoples of Australia are all woven with a deft and sensitive hand.
I greatly admire the many historical and cultural details that have been stitched into this story to sustain our belief, and the care taken with the dialogue and language.

The story contains several mysteries which are gradually revealed, and in that way the plot marches on as we keep turning the pages to discover what has happened to Patrin, and to find out where her story and Eglantines will intersect.
But more than these mysteries, it is the overall flavour of the book that sustains the reader the luscious sights, sounds and smells of the time, the textures we can almost feel, the ghostly sentiment floating just beyond our touch.
And encompassing everything else, the river the depth and strength of her, the tidal pull, the rushing flow, the danger, the attraction, the noise and the quiet, the peace.
The river is as much a character in this book as any of the people, and she has almost an ethereal and gracelike quality that resonates through every chapter.
This story, like the river, does indeed sing, Thanks HarperCollins Publishers Australia and netgalley for this ARC,

Growing up in a household with secrets, mystery, and sin, This novel is true to the time period, and shines with lore and song, You will fall into it's depths unforgettable,
The River Sings is a historical fiction novel written by Australian author Sandra Leigh Price, Once I had it in my hands, it was difficult to put down this breathtaking story,

The book is told in two perspectives the first is Patrin, who grows up living the gypsy life, the second is her daughter Eglantine.
 As a teenager, Patrin falls in love with her cousin Amberline, much to her parents dismay, After a heartbreaking incident, Patrin flees to London with Amberline and their daughter Eglantine, Though she knows that she shouldnt trust her husband, she joins him in London anyway for the sake of her daughter, where she lives a miserable life.
In the present day, Eglantine is without her mother and lives with her father and housekeeper Makepeace in London, She longs for her mother and the memories of her are absent from her mind, She learns of her father's fraudulent way of obtaining money, and then becomes his apprentice, stealing money from unsuspecting victims, When her father is caught and ordered onto the next ship towards New South Wales, Eglantine must fend for herself,  

The River Sings takes you on a journey through a range of emotions, The one which was the most prevalent for me was disgust and extreme disappointment for Amberline, The man had no respect for the people who made sacrifices for him, He treated people like the commodities he stole, He was so obsessed with all that shines,  that he treated people close to him with little regard in the pursuit of wealth.
Though I disliked his character, I loved his complexity and I thought that the authors construction of him was excellent,  

Sandra Leigh Prices words are absolutely beautiful and I found myself lost in her stunning sentences and writing style, I also thought the use of the river was fantastic, and it felt like an integral part of the story, Everything connected back to the river, and its power was evident throughout the entire book, The river streams throughout the novel and it was the glue that held it all together,  

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The River Sings from covertocover, The novel is a wonderful and astonishing tale of determination, survival and loss, .