NetGalley: The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb

Publisher: Simon Element

Published: 5/6/2025

Pages: 432

Genre: Contemporary

Review: ARC from NetGalley and Publisher

Amazon

Corby Ledbetter is struggling. New fatherhood, the loss of his job, and a growing secret addiction have thrown his marriage to his beloved Emily into a tailspin. And that's before he causes the tragedy that tears the family apart. Sentenced to prison, Corby struggles to survive life on the inside, where he bears witness to frightful acts of brutality but also experiences small acts of kindness and elemental kinship with a prison librarian who sees his light and some of his fellow offenders, including a tender-hearted cellmate and a troubled teen desperate for a role model. Buoyed by them and by his mother’s enduring faith in him, Corby begins to transcend the boundaries of his confinement, sustained by his hope that mercy and reconciliation might still be possible. Can his crimes ever be forgiven by those he loves?

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Wow! Amazing! Touching! I honestly had no clue what I was diving into, but from the get-go, I was pulled in. There was a scene that had me gasping and going OMG while I was in bed, my heart broke. I couldn't imagine the pain and the guilt. While in prison he learns the system he learns how to survive and he sees the corruption that can happen to the officers. It broke my heart to see things happen through his eyes. When you give a book five stars you know it is because it was one you couldn't put down this is one of those books. It was amazing to see how Corby wanted to fight his addiction and how he tried so hard to overcome his addiction and do right.  The story, the emotions, the characters, and the plot all made for a story that is unforgettable. When I tell you to rush and buy this book I totally mean it. I don't believe that you will be disappointed.

There is growth within this book and we see Corby grow it is hard, but necessary. 

  

Wally Lamb is the author of six New York Times bestselling novels: I’ll Take You There, We Are Water, Wishin’ and Hopin’, The Hour I First Believed, I Know This Much Is True, and She’s Come Undone. His latest novel, The River is Waiting, will be released in May of 2025 through Marysue Rucci Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
Lamb also edited Couldn’t Keep It to Myself and I’ll Fly Away, two volumes of essays from students in his writing workshop at York Correctional Institution, a women’s prison in Connecticut, where he was a volunteer facilitator for twenty years.
Lamb lives in Connecticut with his wife, Christine, and they have three sons.