River: A Hudson Memoir

Leslie Day’s life changed forever when, in 1975, she moved to a tiny houseboat on the Hudson River at the 79th Street Boat Basin--a new home umbilically tied to Manhattan’s Upper West Side. In her heartfelt memoir, River, Day reveals how she fell in love with--and married--her neighbor, a biology professor at Brooklyn College, became a naturalist, educator, and author, and raised her son on the boat. As Day invites readers into the intimate and connective stories of the singular floating community on the river, the histories and the people of the Hudson flow along with the tides and currents of Day’s life.

There are stories of those who polluted the river and of those who fought for it to be clean and safe--stories of how Day became a student and teacher of the river and of the plants and animals she grew to know and love. Challenges and celebrations have their own place too: storms, sinkings, fires, and ice fields, as well as weddings, birthdays, holidays, and found families.

A unique look at life on and of the Hudson, River is a love letter to New York City, its famous waterway, and the environment around us and the people who shape it.

Leslie Day is the author of multiple New York City field guides, including Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City, and Honeybee Hotel. A retired science teacher, she now leads classes at the New York Botanical Garden.