River, Cross My Heart

Written by Breena Clarke

Narrated by Karen Chilton

The acclaimed bestseller—a selection of Oprah’s Book Club—that brings vividly to life the Georgetown
neighborhood of Washington, DC, circa 1925, and a community reeling from a young girl’s tragic death.

When five-year-old Clara Bynum drowns in the Potomac River under a seemingly haunted rock outcropping
known locally as the Three Sisters, the community must reconcile themselves to the bitter tragedy.

Clarke powerfully charts the fallout from Clara’s death on the people she has left behind: her parents, Alice and
Willie Bynum, torn between the old world of their rural North Carolina home and the new world of the city; the
friends and relatives of the Bynum family in the Georgetown neighborhood they now call home; and, most especially,
Clara’s sister, ten-year-old Johnnie Mae, who is thrust into adolescence and must come to terms with the terrible and
confused emotions stirred by her sister’s death.

This highly accomplished debut novel reverberates with ideas, impassioned lyricism, and poignant historical detail
as it captures an essential and moving portrait of the Washington, DC, community

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781980067016

Breena Clarke

Breena Clarke is a Black scholar and award-winning novelist. Her debut novel River, Cross My Heart was a New York Times bestseller and an Oprah's Book Club selection. She also wrote Stand the Storm and Angels Make Their Hope Here. She is co-organizer of the Hobart Book Village Festival of Women Writers and is on the faculty of the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine.

Reviews for River, Cross My Heart

[sanyamakadi · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Engagingly written winding narrative filled with colorful characters. It provides a vivid picture of Black Georgetown in the 1920s. And the child protagonist is just as charming and infuriating as child characters (and real life children) often are.

[snash_44 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good depiction of the black community of Georgetown during the 1920's although the plot line gets a little lost in the descriptions.

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of Johnnie Mae Bynum and her family, who live in Washington, D.C. in the mid-twenties. Ms. Clarke has drawn a rich portrait of life for coloured residents at that time and the story of how Johnnie Mae and others deal with the accidental death of her young sister is interesting, but like others have said, not excellent.I read this book, which is an Oprah's Book Club selection, shortly after reading an analysis of "The Oprah Phenomenon". As was pointed out in that analysis, Oprah's message is one of individual responsibility, largely regardless of broader societal or systemic barriers to equality or success. While Ms. Clarke's shows a community with a whites-only swimming pool, segregated schools, and Blacks in service jobs, none of her characters complain or work to change the situation. Rather, they do the best they can in the situation in which they find themselves.....but with an eye on a better life for their children.

[annelim_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Novel is set in black Georgetown, part of Washington D.C. in the 1920s. Author grew up in D.C. and setting is quite plausible. A closeknit community helps a family cope with the death of a child and its aftermath.

[readingrat_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another coming of age story - not bad, but not as memorable as many of the others I have read.

[estellen_4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

OK book - but one in a million. Not worth the hype.