The River Between Hearts

On an ordinary Monday, Rill Kruse left for third grade with a dad, but when she came home, he'd been stolen. By a river. One year and thirteen days later--on the first morning of summer vacation--Rill still insists he's trudging home. Her mom has become a practical woman. Her older brother, Eddy, now calls her baby and dork. Gus, second-in-command at Kruse Whitewater Adventures, Rill's family's rafting company, has gone from being her dad's "risk bro" to her mom's guardian angel. Joyce, company secretary, arm-wrestler, and mechanic, still calls Rill a fingerling, but, after learning what a cheater water is, Rill wishes she'd stop. When Rill's cat, Clifford, leads her to the family tree fort on the mountainside behind home, she discovers a stowaway, Perla. To help Perla, Rill embarks on an adventure that tests her understanding of the world, of loss, and of what it means to be a friend. In the end, what Rill discovers will nudge her--and all those she loves--toward healing.


About the Author
Heather Mateus Sappenfield loves adventures, especially in the Rocky Mountain landscape that's been her lifelong home. Her writing has been a finalist for the Colorado Book Awards, a finalist for the Kraken Prize, winner of the V Press Compilation Book Prize, finalist for the Flannery O'Connor Award, winner of the Danahy Fiction Prize and the Arthur Edelstein Award, and she is a six-time Pushcart Prize nominee.