Advance Praise for The River is Mine

Although many have written of Major Powell's 1869 exploration of the Green and Colorado Rivers, few put the reader in the boats, on the water, in the squalid camps. In The River Is Mine Ardian Gill comes closer than any before to portraying who Powell and his men really were, and what was going on day by day, hour by hour as difficulties mounted, rations diminished, and tempers wore razor-thin. A valuable contribution to river lore, and a great read regardless.

Brad Dimock, Author of Sunk Without a Sound: The Tragic Colorado River Honeymoon of Glen and Bessie Hyde

·

Ardian Gill's new novel The River is Mine tells the story of John Wesley Powell's 1869 exploration of the Green and Colorado Rivers and the Grand Canyon. It is the adventure of ten men shooting rapids and painstakingly carrying and lining heavy wooden boats through cascades, cataracts and waterfalls. The action is breathtaking and invigorating, the story straight-forward and clearly told. Written as a fictional expansion of the actual diary of one member of the expedition, the action is always front and center, but enriched by the interplay among the men, who include journalists, farmers, trappers, and Civil War veterans. Most intriguing, perhaps, is the narrator's changing view of the head of the expedition – the brilliant, narrow-visioned, intrepid, one-armed Major Powell. Read this novel for the adventure, for the character studies, and for the satisfaction of how ordinary men can uplift us by their determination and physical courage.

Meredith Sue Willis, Author of In the Mountains of America and Deep Revision