Downriver

Downriver is an evocative, gorgeously written short story: the tale of one woman's past-and her inability to escape it-from Jess Montgomery, author of the Kinship series. "Now that I'm dying, I must decide what to do about the necklace." In 1939, many years ago, Rona Carter was a shy, lonely girl. Nothing like the pretty, popular Emily-the golden girl of Liberty, Ohio. Emily, whose body was found in the river. Now, the legend of Emily's death has lived on in Rona, in the town, and in the tiger's eye necklace that Emily's mother gave her. Forced to reckon with her own mortality, Rona must decide whether to share a secret long kept buried-or take it to her grave.

JESS MONTGOMERY writes a Writer's Digest magazine column, "Level Up Your Writing (Life)" and was formerly the "Literary Life" columnist for the Dayton Daily News. Based on early chapters of the first book in the Kinship Series, The Widows, Jess was awarded an Ohio Arts Council individual artist's grant for literary arts and named the John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence at Thurber House in Columbus. Jess lives in her native state of Ohio.