Braeburn Croft

THE RIVEN COUNTRY OF SENGA MUNRO, my debut novel, is available on Amazon, and soon by IngramSpark distribution (if all goes well). The e-book is also available on Amazon. I am by turns thrilled, exhausted, grateful and incredibly sorrowful, as the timing corresponds with a sister’s cancer and multiple strokes. We are all reeling. I have this sister to thank for my finally being about the storytelling these past 5 ½ years, after taking a year “off” to immerse myself in reading–including my sister’s favorite series, Outlander.

Friend and artist Candace Christofferson graciously provided the perfect cover image.

The novel’s back cover reads:

Riven: adjective, literary; alternate past participle of to rive. 1. torn apart 2. broken into pieces, split asunder.

“My daughter would have been 29 years old this year,” begins this inter-generational story. Senga Munro still blames herself two decades after her daughter’s death. A literary novel, THE RIVEN COUNTRY OF SENGA MUNRO explores the aftermath of unspeakable tragedy and what it means to be “other” in rural Wyoming: Senga sees what others can’t, via the novel’s thread of magical realism.

An arrow shot through time by a 19th century Indian scout jolts her awake at last. Will Senga risk the relative safety of routine and finally come to terms with her purpose and life, even as she provokes the ire of a modern-day outlaw? Senga Munro, the not-so-simple herbal simpler is earning a PhD in life’s mysteries.

We meet Senga’s friends: Gabe Belizaire, a bull rider from Louisiana with an M.F.A in Creative Writing, who chooses to live in a state where his skin color is rare; Rufus and Caroline Strickland, a sympathetic, if irascible, elderly ranching couple; Francesca Albinoni, Gabe’s Italian muse; Joe Rafaela, the hardy Franciscan; and the old Berry place folks—outlaws and proverbial snakes in the garden, of the poisonous variety.

Readers learn that resilience and grit triumph as the most useful antidotes in the bag as they journey through THE RIVEN COUNTRY OF SENGA MUNRO, Book One in THE RIVEN COUNTRY SERIES.

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The next few months will be necessarily fraught with travel, family visits, phone calls, deep breathing and the need for hugs. Regarding the book, I’ll be letting it flow, as the saying goes. Find updates via this blog, Goodreads, the Amazon Author page and Twitter@reneecarrier12. Many opportunities for rereading this first novel and the two that follow (you always find something to correct) have served to illustrate how a long story develops. As in life, I suspect. The second novel, STARWALLOW, and third (working title: EARTHBOUND) are linked by Senga, her friends and foes. Also, by differing geographies. They will be made available in 2020.

If you acquire a copy and find something of merit, please leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads or Twitter. As a friend in Scotland once told me, “Senga lives!” Thank you, Charles. And thank you to Jeff, our children and grandchildren; friends and wonderful editor Sarah Pridgeon; the Wyoming Arts Council, for the Frank Nelson Doubleday Writing Award in 2018—so encouraging, and, for their grant assistance. The novels are set mostly in Wyoming, my home for lo, these last four decades. Yes, a love letter to place and belonging.