matheson-browne

As the River Watches is set in between 2000 in picturesque Lorne, Victoria, and 2020, around the time that covid stopped the world. It was set on the banks of the Barwon River, in Barwon Heads, Victoria, where the author lived at the time. It follows the non-chronological journey of Lily (who tragically lost her mother in suspicious circumstances) and how she pieces together the mystery while learning to develop her own identity within this shifting and changing landscape. Her father’s identity (a mystery at the start of the novel) unravels along with the breakdown of her relationship with her controlling grandmother and the many secrets that clog the muddy shorelines of this ancient estuary. There is an environmental message and campaign that swims in parallel with the complicated disappearance, and the twist will hit the reader in a confronting and emotionally charged way. Heartbreak, isolation, innocence, complicated family relationships and coming of age all weave together before an explosive ending exposes the secrets of the influential families of the town.