Book cover of The Whisper of the River

Book description

The bittersweet and very funny story of a young man’s journey to adulthood that the Nashville Banner called "Americana at its best."
 
Young for his class and small for his age, Porter Osborne, Jr., leaves his rural Georgia home in 1938 to meet the world at Willingham University, armed…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Whisper of the River as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The book is a treasure of rich prose, as well as a rollicking read with a whisper of an undercurrent of what it means to be raised right and to do the right thing.

Porter J. Osborne, Jr., the protagonist, is unforgettable in his journey to learn who he is. We tag along through Osborne’s immature pranks and awkwardness in his college years. A professor advises: “You are so young and, to be perfectly honest, you are so callow, so unformed. And yet there is something about you, a drive, a spark, a toughness of spirit, a completely unpredictable gift…

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Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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