Ain't No River Book

Ain't No River by Sharon Ewell Foster was the 3rd book I have read by this author, and I enjoyed it very much---just as I did with the others. All of the primary characters in Ain't No River are African-American but the book's messages and themes are for everyone, no matter what a person's race is. In the beginning of the novel, Garvin Daniels, an African-American attorney working in Washington, D.C. feels like her life is falling apart. She finds out that her career is in jeopardy after being put on a 3 month administrative leave, one of her best friends has met a minister and gone off on a cross-country charity bike ride with him, and she suspects her beloved grandmother, Meemaw is being taken advantage of by a gigolo. At this point in her life, she is very proud that she does not fit any stereotypes for African-Americans and refuses to believe that other African-Americans are being discriminated against without having done something to bring it on themselves and is totally wrapped up in her own concerns. However, once she goes back to the small town of Jacks Creek in the Cape Fear area of North Carolina to confront the man she believes is taking advantage of her grandmother, she begins to change through exposure to her Meemaw's counsel, preaching at the church she attends with her Meemaw, and becoming involved in helping a teenager who gave up her child for adoption and now feels overwhelmingly guilty. She also finds out that what she was totally wrong in what she thought about Go-Go Walker, the ex-football player, who is spending time with her grandmother. This book has several themes in it---appreciating the diversity among people regardless of color or race, the importance of being involved in helping others to rise above your own problems, learning to trust others even when you've been hurt, and last but not least---a message of salvation in turning to God with faith. I can't wait to read the other books in this series.