August 2025 Book Review: Peace Like A River

Book by: Scott Gould
Review by: Dr. Wendy Hooper-Meletes, Ed.D., owner of Litchfield Books

I was born, raised, and still live in the South. For the past twenty-something years, I’ve taught creative writing at the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts & Humanities. With roots deep in Southern dirt, I suppose I’m genetically imbued to believe everyone carries around a decent story to tell. I live in Sans Souci, South Carolina. The house has a big porch. Come visit, but bring a story. Even though a river can kill, it also has the power to heal. Rivers can refresh, renourish, and provide peace and solitude to those who seek it.

Southern fiction writer Scott Gould, winner of the Eric Hoffer Award for Fiction, keeps the Kingstree, South Carolina journey on course as he takes us down the Black River. The humid Lowcountry and the pungent smell of the dark river is soul-stirring, it’s what Elwin associates with home. As he returns to his hometown on a smooth stretch of Sumter Highway Elwin feels like he is running out of time for the things that mean the most.

As much as he was hard to take growing up, his Old Man was dying. Family accounts of Elwin are his estranged brother that vanished from his life, a young son not connected by marriage, and a dedicated caretaker Linda McCrea. A touching connection between father and son develops as Elwin and his precocious son Thom lay eyes on the Old Man one last time. There is a unique flow, a lyricism, to Linda’s care of Elwin’s father. The prose comes slowly with a sly sense of humor and a smooth sense of storytelling. The lingering taste of life in the south is why Southern writer Gould drew me in. I felt the south directly into my soul, transporting me there as he shared experiences that were observed from his perspective. This was quite evident as I dove into the forty-two chapters in this book. The difficult relationship with his father and how he managed to reconcile with his father flows briskly along. Each of the unique characters is most memorable for drama, humor, and sadness.

If you would like to meet Scott Gould on Friday, August 29, 2025 visit www.litchfieldbooks.com/events.