CROSSING THE RIVER

Elegantly written and vibrant in detail, Crossing the River tells a nuanced global story through a personal memoir, examining life without the trappings of modern Western culture, and revealing surprising truths about identity, family, and love.

Disenchanted with their fast-paced competitive life, Amy Ragsdale moved with her two teenage children and husband Peter Stark, best-selling adventure writer, to a small town in northeastern Brazil where she hoped they would learn the value of a slower life. In this culturally rich and economically poor region, Amy and her family learn to fundamentally connect with their neighbors across language and customs. In the year they spend there, Amy grows close to her new neighbors, from the men who cut sugar cane and kill chickens to the clinical university student who became the family’s daily guide to Brazilian life.

Sometimes funny, sometimes poignant and ultimately an argument for immersing Western children in third-world cultures, this isn’t a traditional memoir, nor is it a how-to book, except by example. It bears some resemblance to Eat, Pray, Love in its personal nature and to A Year in Provence in its description of amusing encounters with locals.

Amy Ragsdale is a writer and choreographer. Her articles on travel and dance have appeared in High Desert Journal, Mamalode, and Outside Magazine Online, where she initiated the column Raising Rippers. She has also taught contemporary dance in Spain, Indonesia, Martinique, Mozambique and Brazil.