“River Faces North” by Anne M. Smith-Nochasak 

“But we could hope. Because that is what you do when you see the world has ended and you are still alive.” The world Flo had known all her life has ended. Just like, one might think, Flo’s active life. No matter the positivity regarding the age that had been flourishing in that old world of hers, seventy-eight was considered the sunset of a person’s existence. But the world has ended, and in the new one, Flo has found herself to be more vigorous and inventive than she used to be in her youth. She must be this way, for she doesn’t have a choice.

In this new world, almost all of the things that could be enjoyed perished. You can’t have a cup of coffee in the morning. You can’t take a delicious drag of a cigarette. You can’t treat your kids to a birthday cake. You wear old tattered clothes.

But above all that, your life doesn’t belong to you.

In the year 2036, the oppressive cult – the Elect – rules over the land, which used to be the embodiment of human rights, democracy, and prosperity. The Elect decides what you eat and how much. The Elect chooses the field of duty for you. The Elect decides when your life ends – be it on the show arena, in a labour camp, or at a farm for the elderly where you will die uncared for and alone.

Flo has no intention to allow the Elect to make decisions for her. She is determined to fight, using the means at her disposal. It might seem she doesn’t have much. What can a seventy-eight-year-old woman do to change the world? Yet, those who think that forget that more often it’s the subtlety that wins.

Flo is not alone. Still, she feels that she is.  “Trust is the first casualty of the revolution.” Flo trusts no one. Not even those whom she is helping to survive, letting them live in her swamp. She checks on them, makes sure they are fed and clothed, but she keeps an eye on them. And when someone in her circle behaves suspiciously, she acts. Maybe it doesn’t make her a good person. But she doesn’t want to be good. She is a rebel grandmother after all. And rebel grandmothers do what must be done irrespective of losing the chances for salvation.

“Broken people did not always recognize and mend one another’s brokenness.” Flo learns this truth the hard way. She had learnt it in her life before, when the love she and her husband shared broke, shattered against the things that shouldn’t have mattered more than the chance for happiness they had been given. Yet, life isn’t always fair – now, in 2036, it seems that it never is. And Flo learns it again after the world she knew has ended.

Dark, uncompromising, and shocking, “River Faces North” by Anne M. Smith-Nochasak is saturated with hope. Flo’s courage, her love for her granddaughter River, her faith in her son’s and his partner’s ability to bring the revolution home and wipe away the horrendous Elect are the rays of bright light that transform this story. From depressing it gradually becomes inspiring.

I’ve lived through the tough transitional times myself, and probably this made me feel Flo’s journey more acutely. The feeling that the world will remain grim forever is familiar to me. When every day is a struggle and every morning you wake up expecting another blow, it is extremely hard to keep the hope intact. Seeing the dishonest and undeserving climb up to the very top of life snatches that hope away. At times like these, you survive only if you have those who demonstrate rebellion against the ruling darkness. People who don’t succumb to the wrong side, no matter how alluring it might seem. They most probably are poor people. They don’t have more than you do. But only in the material sense. They still have the treasures of their soul to share. A quote from one of my favourite books comes to mind: “If you’re in trouble or hurt or need – go to poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help – the only ones.” ― John Steinbeck, “The Grapes of Wrath.”

“River Faces North” by Anne M. Smith-Nochasak is book one in the Taggak Journey trilogy. I am looking forward to making the perilous journey North with the characters of book two and seeing if they can make the revolution work. The rebel grandmother Flo counts on them, and, a fictional character she might be, she has a permanent place in my heart from now on.