Go As a River

Summit County Library & Park City Library present One Book One Community 2026

Go as a River by Shelley Read

WINNER OF THE HIGH PLAINS BOOK AWARD • WINNER OF THE READING THE WEST BOOK AWARD

Set amid Colorado’s wild beauty, this is the heartbreaking coming-of-age story of a resilient young woman whose life is changed forever by one chance encounter. This “literary triumph” (Denver Post) is a tragic, uplifting novel of love and loss, place and displacement, prejudice and family, wilderness and survival—and hope.

Seventeen-year-old Victoria Nash runs the household on her family’s peach farm in the small ranch town of Iola, Colorado—the sole surviving female in a family of troubled men. Wilson Moon is a young drifter with a mysterious past, displaced from his tribal land and determined to live as he chooses. Victoria encounters Wil by chance on a street corner, a meeting that profoundly alters both of their young lives.

Inspired by true events surrounding the destruction of the town of Iola and the damming of the wild Gunnison River in the 1960s, Go as a River is a story of deeply held love in the face of hardship and loss, but also of finding courage, resilience, friendship, and, finally, home—where least expected. This stunning debut explores what it means to lead your life as if it were a river—gathering and flowing, finding a way forward even when a river is dammed.

FROM PUBLISHER SPIEGEL & GRAU

The ebook and audiobook of Go as a River are available on Libby and we have multiple copies of the book available to check out at all of our branches.