A review by anjreading
Riverland by Fran Wilde

4.0

I picked this up after learning it won the Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction a few days ago. It is not an easy read, as it’s a portal fantasy about domestic violence, but it is such a powerful story told so well. Eleanor and her younger sister Mike have endless rules that they try to follow to stay safe, and more often than not they end up hiding under Eleanor’s bed, telling each other stories while trying to avoid their father’s temper and their mother’s complicity. One night, when their father breaks a family heirloom, a river appears under the bed, and the girls are swept away to a world of nightmares and dreams. A moving and poignant story that does offer up rays of hope even in the midst of darkness.