It was a surprise to rediscover this. I first read this on my year abroad around fifteen years ago. I was adrift and alone, living in a remote town which had an population of approximately zero between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine. I spent the early months wandering and one of the big things that I felt the loss of was books. I had the ones I had brought with me, but they weren't enough. I needed a supply. But then things improved. I discovered that the town actually had a very small library and in that very small library, they had a shelf of English books. I felt guilty about visiting this place. I was supposed to be learning French, speaking French, reading French. But I needed stories. But of all the books that I read on that strange lonely year, it was Peace Like a River which stuck in my mind the most.

My main memory of this book was the memorable narrative voice. The protagonist is Reuben, an eleven year-old asthmatic boy living with his father and siblings. But he is no ordinary child narrator. From the opening line, 'From my first breath in this world, all I wanted was a good set of lungs', we realise that we are hearing from the birds eye view of him speaking from later life. He is speaking for himself as a child with the wisdom of age. Peace Like a River is one of those books that has the feeling of spoken word - you don't need to download the audiobook to hear Reuben's voice. The prose flows like poetry, every sentence worthy of savouring.

It is rare to read a book which places such emphasis on religious faith but Reuben's father Jeremiah Land is a memorable character. He was not present at Reuben's difficult birth, having chosen to pace the grass outside. But as the baby refused to breathe, he felt the air quicken. Jeremiah 'opened his eyes and discovered he was running - spring across the grass toward the door'. As the doctor explained the consequences of this lengthy oxygen starvation, 'As mother cried out, Dad turned back to me, a clay child wrapped in a canvas coat, and said in a normal voice, ‘Reuben Land, in the name of the living God I am telling to breathe.' And breathe he did.

The middle child, Reuben has his older brother Davy and younger sister Swede. While Jeremiah might be the Christ-like figure within the narrative, my favourite character was strong-willed Swede. As Reuben describes how his father and Davy could be at odds, he explains that the same is not true for himself and his sister; 'Swede and I rarely quarrelled, for I never held opinions in those days, and hers were never wrong.' Her poetry has the flavour of Banjo Paterson - the story may be set in the 1960s but she has her heart in a bygone era.

The novel's main plot opens some years after the death of their mother when events lead sixteen year-old Davy to become a fugitive. Two of his schoolfellows Israel Finch and Tommy Basca begin to terrorise the family. Neither side ready to back down, the tit for tat goes back and forth, steadily escalating. Tension builds, Swede and Reuben both aware and oblivious. But when the intimidation turns on Swede, the stakes for Davy grow even higher. The episode of Swede's abduction, so carefully skipped over by Reuben, has always stuck in my mind. 'A nine year old shouldn't be dragged from her house by someone who hates her'. The details may seem innocuous - all they do is drive around with her - but yet the icy terror is clear. In the days that follow, Reuben catches a glimpse of the bruises round her waist where they held her in place. No wonder Davy decides to settle things once and for all. But this puts him on the wrong side of the law and with no expectation of justice, Davy flees into the night.

Following closely in his wake are the rest of the family. Peace Like a River is not a novel which is heavily plot-driven. The joy comes from the journey. As the family head further into the Badlands of the Dakotas, they leave the ordinary world behind. Between young Swede's composing Western ballads and Jeremiah's radical faith, this is a novel about belief. Belief in the bonds between family, that you will find your way back together, belief in a set of values that prize heroism over law and of course, belief in God himself. Telling the story in retrospect, Reuben is a curiously comforting protagonist and his faith in the destination in turn reassures the reader. Reading this during those first solitary months, Peace Like a River affirmed a sense of connection that I was severely lacking at the time and for that alone, I remember it with great fondness. Incredibly atmospheric, this ballad of the old west re-struck is a novel to take to your heart.

A really enjoyable read. Everything in this book is described beautifully which makes it a pleasure to read. Life for Reuben and his family is described by Reuben in a wonderful page turning way.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.