When the river claims you, there's no warning. My brother Henry understood this. One moment, he was guiding the wagon through the river; the next, he was pulled under, swept away by the force of autumn-swollen waters.The West has a hard lesson: rivers offer no mercy.Marilla is forced to travel the Oregon Trail and marry at fifteen. John, an Irish teenager, escapes an abusive father and sails across oceans to the west coast of North America. Walter deserts the U.S.

Army, seeking redemption in Canada through the love of a First Nations woman.Blending fiction, historical records, memoir, and poetry, these migrant stories come together in a land where rivers serve as roads. Each journey is shaped by hardship and triumph, where love, choice, and chance echo through generations. Haunting and lyrical, The River People delves into the myths and realities of 19th-century westward expansion into the Pacific Northwest.