Spirit Crossing: A Cork O'Connor Mystery, #20 by William Kent Krueger

Coming in Hardcover
eBook and Audio
on August 20th

Coming in Paperback on May 21st

A Note from Kent about
The River We Remember

I finished the first draft of The River We Remember more than six years ago, then I abandoned it. Why? The narrative didn’t speak to me in a way compelling enough for me to understand how to tell the story truly.

Then, well over a year ago, when I’d exhausted all my other writing ideas, I pulled that abandoned manuscript off the shelf and began to reread it. I don’t know what happened in the intervening years. Maybe the story simply needed more time to gestate. Or maybe over time I’d just grown wiser as a storyteller. In any event, as I read the old version, I heard the voice of the story speak to me powerfully, and I knew this time I could do it justice.

I worked on it diligently for a year. Gradually the manuscript I’d once thought was hopeless became one that I believe in profoundly. For me, The River We Remember is a story of how we help one another heal from the wounds of the battles we fight in life, of how we transform hate and anger into compassion. I love this novel, and I offer it with a full heart and the hope that when you’ve finished reading it, you will love it, too.

Praise for
The River We Remember

Instant National Bestseller!
USA Today | New York Times | Washington Post
Indie | Wall Street Journal | Publishers Weekly
Edgar Award Nominee for Best Novel
Finalist for Book of the Month’s Book of the Year
Nominated for Best Mystery & Thriller in the Goodreads Choice Awards
Named to Amazon’s Top 100 Best Books of 2023
Indie Next Pick
Book of the Month Selection
B&N Most Anticipated Fiction for September | Amazon Editors’ Pick Best Literature & Fiction
CrimeReads Most Anticipated Crime Fiction of Summer 2023

“I can say without exaggeration that I’ve read every novel William Kent Krueger has written…So, please take note when I say that Krueger’s latest stand-alone, The River We Remember, may be his magnum opus, a literary mic drop.”

Minneapolis Star Tribune 

“It’s easy to describe a novel’s plot. It’s harder to capture the lyricism of Krueger’s writing, especially descriptions of the landscape and humans related to it… [W]hile The River We Remember could be considered a crime story, it’s also about community, its strengths, its prejudices, its secrets.”

Pioneer Press 

“William Kent Krueger’s page-turning, rewarding mystery The River We Remember is a superb exploration of the prejudices and complexities of post-World War II America”

Bookpage (starred review)

“Absorbing. . . combines nostalgic settings with depictions of the lingering hardships and traumas of war and the home front . . . in the decade after WWII.”

Booklist (starred review)

“An empathetic portrait of a small town in distress.”

Publishers Weekly

“Fans of the die-hard Minnesotan author will appreciate his evocation of the landscape and people’s connections to it.”

—Kirkus

“Tender, evocative.”

Shelf Awareness

“[Krueger] is a fine storyteller, but it is his understanding of his characters and his sense of the past that make The River We Remember more than just a story. As novels go, this one is a work of art.”

The Denver Post

“Krueger’s graceful prose coupled with his ability to delve deep into his characters’ inner lives makes The River We Remember a stand-out in a career of excellent novels…[The novel] ebbs and flows to a stunning ending that also is life affirming. This is a story not easily forgotten.”

New York Review of Books

“Krueger’s graceful prose coupled with his ability to delve deep into his characters’ inner lives makes The River We Remember a stand-out in a career of excellent novels…[The novel] ebbs and flows to a stunning ending that also is life affirming. This is a story not easily forgotten.”

Sun Sentinel

“Irresistible…Book clubs, here’s your next pick. Find The River We Remember, take it home and shut the door.”

Macro Eagle

“This is the kind of book that really seems to have it all: murder, small-town animosities, prejudice, loneliness, bullies, violence, broken people and families, rape, and even a bit of romance…. [Y]ou will love the twist when the perpetrator of the crime is finally revealed.”

Bookreporter

William Kent Krueger is the #1 bestselling author of more than twenty books, including the Cork O’Connor series

William Kent Krueger is the New York Times bestselling author of This Tender Land, Ordinary Grace (winner of the Edgar Award for best novel), as well as nineteen acclaimed books in the Cork O’Connor mystery series, including Fox Creek, Desolation Mountain and Sulfur Springs. He lives in the Twin Cities with his family.

More about William Kent Krueger »

The Levee

An Audio Original Novella

An audio original novella from the bestselling author of Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land, The Levee is a powerful, captivating story of a family, a storm, a complicated rescue, and the true cost of survival.

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