Kate Betterton

WHERE THE LAKE BECOMES THE RIVER is about love transcending barriers, and the soul's immortality.

Years ago, I was in a terrible car wreck that brought me right to the edge between living and dying. While recovering, I thought, "Someday I'll write about this wreck." Much later, I wrote a piece about someone who “wakes back up” after dying and going to Heaven. This piece, with its barely-mentioned "car wreck," became the final chapter of WHERE THE LAKE BECOMES THE RIVER, and gave the book its underlying theme: the thin line between this world and the next. It seems that we can sometimes cross over that line and return, through unusual experiences, and in our dreams.

As the Civil Rights Movement sweeps into her state, Parrish McCullough is caught in the cross-fires of Mississippi's racial tensions. She's shadowed by secrets and haunted by her father's spirit--along with other, more ominous ghosts. The book involves her family, loves, and challenges, but at its core is Parrish’s struggle to understand “The Truth About Life After Death.” This enigma has haunted her since childhood, when her father died, and Parrish saw her father’s spirit sitting near his coffin—just the beginning of a series of extraordinary events.

At some point, for most of us, someone we love will step through that mysterious doorway we call “death." I hope readers will find Parrish’s adventures wildly entertaining, but also gain, perhaps, an expanded context for what the passage through that doorway may mean--and a measure of comfort from sharing Parrish’s glimpses of immortality.

--All the best, Kate

BOOKCLUBS: KATE WILL BE HAPPY TO ARRANGE A SPEAKER-PHONE BOOK DISCUSSION WITH YOU. PLEASE CONTACT HER AT OSAKAMOON@​JUNO.COM.