Novelist Shelley Read talks at TACAW on Tuesday

At age 57, Shelley Read released her debut novel, “Go As a River.” Apparently, good things come to those who wait; her award-winning novel has been translated into 34 languages and has been optioned for film by Mazur Kaplan Productions. It’s also a favorite in the valley. On Tuesday, Mitzi Rapkin, founder and host of First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing podcast, interviews Read in person at TACAW.

With degrees in creative writing, journalism, and English, Read taught at Western Colorado University for over 25 years. As a fifth-generation Coloradan who lives in Crested Butte, she based her main character on the resilient women she grew up with, from her grandma, who became the first female business owner in Colorado Springs, to her mom, who was an artist and business owner.

The story portrays resilience, friendship, and finding a sense of home after the government floods the town of Iola to create Blue Mesa Reservoir — a historical event that took place in the 1960s.

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It follows fictional character Victoria Nash, who becomes pregnant at age 17 by the love of her life — and the target of the community’s distain due merely to his skin color. Suspecting her brother was the one to drag her lover behind a car and dump his body at the bottom of Black Canyon, Victoria retreats into the wilderness, where she discovers her strength, as well as challenges that ultimately cause her to do one of the hardest things a mother can imagine.

“(Victoria) has no idea of her strength and resilience until it’s put to the test,” Read said.

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The author doesn’t confine the definition of love to merely romance; rather, “It’s a love story of the land, oneself, growth, the wilderness, and found friendship,” she said.

In “Go As a River,” the land becomes just as strong a character as the humans who inhabit it.

“I’ve spent my life in the wilderness in the Gunnison Valley and the upper end of the valley that separates Crested Butte and Aspen, and that place has captured readers’ imaginations all over. The story came from a very authentic place,” she said.

She has learned more in Colorado’s wild landscapes than anywhere else in her life, she said, and wanted to depict the wilderness as both humbling and empowering. The novel’s title points to how the story explores what it means “to lead your life as if it were a river — gathering and flowing, finding a way forward even when the river is damned.”

And, it’s been resonating with both local and international readers.

“What I’ve noticed is that many, many book clubs here have read her book, and her fans are super loyal,” Rapkin said.

Megan Noonan, a math teacher in Aspen, is drawn to historical fiction but said sometimes she feels like the genre includes a formulaic, similar story.

“Shelley’s book was just so original. It really captured me. It didn’t feel like a cookie-cutter book,” she said.

Her sister lived in Paonia, so she became even more invested in the book, due to its setting, as well as the story.

“I just blew through the book because I felt like her voice was so original and captivating, and her writing was beautiful, and the storyline had a lot of different twists and turns with a lot of social elements to it. I just found it such a refreshing novel,” she said.

Betsy After, who sits on the Roaring Fork School Board and is part of a book club with friends, also enjoyed the setting and strong story. They all loved the book so much that they organized an outing when Read visited White River Books in Carbondale.

“It just felt like such a great local story of historical consequence,” she said, adding that Read is a wonderful speaker. “She has a lovely presence — very relatable.”

Noonan looks forward to hearing about Read’s writing process and connection to the area, as well as a glimpse of what’s next, during the podcast at TACAW.

“Listening to an author makes the story come alive that much more — hearing about their research, their process, their connection,” Noonan said. “An author that can write as well as she can is probably a wealth of knowledge, and I’m just excited to meet her.”

Read said she hopes her story will help readers explore “some of the relevant issues of our time: Displacement, prejudice, and notions of progress; the value of women, mothers and the natural world; resilience in the face of adversity; and, of course, the extraordinary power of love.”