This book is about lost family with a dual timeline - one in the 1930's and in the 1970's. I really like southern historical fiction. However, this one I had a few issues with. I had a hard time keeping up with the characters - apart from Becca I felt some of them weren't well defined to me so while reading I had a hard time following at first.

I loved Becca and found her storyline the most interesting. It's a 3 star read for me. I liked it, but I didn't love it.

I loved Kelly Mustian's debut novel, The Girls in the Stilt House , so it was a no-brainer to request this from NetGalley. The book is deeply emotional and weaves two tales that take the reader on a journey from the Depression-era American South to the 1970s. Southern historical fiction is my favourite genre, so it's no surprise that I absolutely loved this one.

Dual timelines are a favourite format for me, and as usual, I loved the older timeline, BUT with the second being far back in the 1970s, I found that a plus. They're both complex storylines but are skillfully interwoven and seamlessly reveal the connection between the characters and their shared history.

The setting is atmospheric and took me to the Mississippi Delta and the North Carolina mountains in my head. I can't forget to mention the river of the title, as it is a character in and of itself and is a big part of the characters' lives. The characters are complex, and so are their backgrounds; each has their struggles and vulnerabilities to deal with. I liked how the author showed how family secrets from the past can affect the present and even the future. The women in these two timelines are strong and resilient and do whatever they can to protect those they love and survive. I enjoyed being on this journey with Nell, Becca, Evie and Hazel and their search for the truth.

Overall, this book was compelling and beautifully written and will be enjoyed by anyone who loves historical fiction with strong female leads and detailed, complex storytelling. All. The. Stars.

A story of family secrets and sacrifice. I was immediately drawn into this story of Becca, Nell, Evie, and Hazel as they navigated their stories, alternating between the early 1930s and the early 1970s. I loved the resilience these women all showed in different ways, the family they created along the way, the mystery of how each person's piece of the story fit together, and they way this was told in dual timeline/dual POV. I was captivated, and while it was heartbreaking at times, it's ultimately heartwarming.

This novel unfolds through dual perspectives, offering an interwoven generational narrative that spans decades. Becca’s story, set in the 1930s, follows her harrowing journey as a young housewife whose husband vanishes without warning. Suddenly widowed, she struggles to provide for her daughter, facing daunting obstacles in her fight for survival and independence. Becca is resilient as she navigates the perilous realities of the time, finding a job, caring for her daughter and her rights as a mother and a woman.

Decades later, Nell and her sister Ivie stumble upon a birth certificate that suggests Ivie’s mother was someone else entirely. As an adult, Nell becomes determined to untangle the mystery of their family’s past, revealing long-held secrets that have shaped their lives.

Set in the American South, the novel is rich with vivid descriptions of rundown towns and the Mississippi River. I enjoyed the scenic descriptions but I found myself wishing for a faster pace—less scene-setting and more immediate engagement with the core plot. The story truly gains momentum about two-thirds of the way in, when the connections between characters become clearer. While I initially struggled to keep track of the names across timelines, the merging narratives made it easier to distinguish each character’s role in the story.

I really enjoyed the last half of the novel as the tension built and the secrets started to be revealed and people’s intentions and motives became clear. I sympathized with Becca’s drive to provide for her child and the feeling helpless when she couldn’t. I didn’t expect to feel as much as I did for Hazel until the reasons behind her guarded nature became clear. Hazel was dealt unexpected situation and she did her best.

3⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advanced copy of The River Knows Your Name.

In the 1930s Nell is a young girl when one day another little girl named Evie joins her family. Her mother is very mysterious about her and they end up having to move a few times. One day Nell and Evie find something hidden in an old book that has the name of Evie’s mother and it is not there mothers name. The girls decide to keep that a secret but they never forget what they saw. Now in the 1970s Nell and Evie are adults and Nell is determined to get answers about their childhood.

I liked this book but there were a lot of characters to try to keep track of and the story drug on for me in the middle. I was also expecting more of a shocking twist and was kind of let down that the build up of the book let to that. It was just okay for me.

Nell and Evie have been raised as sisters they're entire lives, since Evie arrived as a 2 year, in mysterious circumstances. Their reclusive mother has always kept their family circumstances secret and both girls have memories of moving from place to place during their childhood. One day, Nell and Evie find a copy of Evie's birth certificate touched into a book on their shelf, however it's not till Bell reaches her 40s that she sets out on a journey to uncover her family's secrets and the story of how Evie came to live with them.

A beautifully told, poignant family drama of survival told in 2 timelines and dealing with love, betrayal and the heartbreak that goes along with it. A captivating, emotional story which I highly recommend, especially if you enjoy family sagas spanning over generations.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read and review this book

Kelly Mustian, author of The Girls in the Stilt House (2021), gives readers another captivating Southern novel, The River Knows Your Name.
Written in a dual timeline and largely centered on two women, much of the plot focuses on secrets and lies, parents or parent substitutes, children, and sisters, the need to protect those one loves, and the need to find answers—to solve family mysteries.

The story opens six days before Becca’s marriage to Ben Chambers while she is still living with her “second mother” Lottie, an artist who once painted commissioned portraits but now prefers painting everything around the house from walls and doors to shoes and a breadbox. Many community members view Lottie as “the town nut, but Becca adores her. Following Becca’s marriage, she learns the news that Lottie has been seen falling into the river. Her body has vanished. The next time readers meet Becca, they learn that her brief marriage to Ben and the rest of her story occur predominately during the Great Depression.

Although Nell’s story takes place primarily during 1971, she first appears with her sister Evie while both are children, or rather as Nell recalls the day ten-year-old Evie discovers they are not real sisters, a fact Evie insisted Nell never let anyone know they had discovered and one Nell did not tell Evie she already knew. Nell vaguely remembered an unknown man dropping toddler Evie off shortly before Hazel, her distant mom, suddenly moved both girls to Clay Mountain where Hazel continued to live after the girls grew to adulthood. How and why had Evie become her sister? Who was that stranger who dropped her off in a green truck? Where was that first house they had abandoned? These and other questions would haunt Nell into her forties and send her in search of answers.

Following these two opening sections that form an unlabeled preface, Mustian devotes a series of multi-chapter sections to both Nell and Becca, giving chapters 34-36 to their mother Hazel, then returning to Nell and Becca for the remainder of the book, which ends with a 1975 epilogue. As readers of other dual timeline novels can easily guess, the two women’s stories gradually converge.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I recommend keeping a character list to deal with the large number of supporting characters playing roles in the novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advance reader egalley . The River Knows Your Name will appeal to readers who enjoy historical fiction, family secrets, and mysteries to be solved.

With alternating POVs in dual timelines that are clearly connected but the reader doesn't find out how until the very end of the book, this story was very interesting to read! There were so many intriguing characters that captured my emotions. I was rooting for Becca and despised Mildred. I found it difficult to connect with Nell, but understand why the author chose to use her POV for that storyline. I really enjoyed the found family aspect and the historical elements of the 1930s South.

Ultimately, I wanted the book to tie together better. The title, synopsis and prologue made me think I was about to read a haunting mystery where the river played prominently but that is not what the story was about. While Evie is arguably the central figure of this story, we don't get much of her perspective. The characters of Lottie and Hazel were so prominent in the storyline, but I didn't feel like I knew them at all. While the story was very enjoyable to read, I don't feel like I took away a bigger message from it.

An emotional dual time line novel about four women-Nell, Evie, Hazel, and Becca-and a secret which hovers over them all. It moves between Becca in the 193os and Nell in 1971, Who was Evie's mother? Nell and Evie know it wasn't Hazel but how did they become a family and why? No spoilers from me. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's a good read.

this book held so many feeling within its pages. so many powerful moments both harrowing and tender. i was in awe of some of the characters both in their grit to carry on or in their grit to fight on.
there were some real horrors in this cast of characters.
the mysterys evolved around a baby left to a mother and her daughter one dark night. nothing more is said and its clear nothing more should be asked on the matter. and so the girls and their mother grow on. but Nell isnt ok with leaving it there and is determined for both Evie and herself and possibly even their mother,to find out more. to find out why.
in our dual timeline we also have the tale of a mother who is going through so very much. and gradually these two timelines meet until we finally found out who plays what part in these girls lives. and how Nell came to have a new baby sister overnight.
there is so much pull to this book. its a fantastic read. its hold you tight until youve read every last page and even then leaves you thinking long after the last page is turned.

So excited to receive an ARC of this book. Girls in Stilt Houses is one of my all-time favorites so couldn't wait for this one. I didn't love this one quite as much due to the dual timelines. It did have all the moodiness & Southern charm that I have come to expect from Mustian though. The two storyline involve Becca, a young widow trying to care for her baby during the depression and Nell in 1971 trying to piece together the mystery of how her baby sister came to live with her & her mother. Neatly tied together at the end. Looking forward to the third novel.

My thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for this free ARC and the opportunity to review it.

Kelly Mustian writes from the heart, and this dual-timeline story, told through the perspectives of sisters Nell and Evie, is both suspenseful and emotional. Their relationship, intertwined with that of their unknowable mother, Hazel, is complicated by the story of Evie’s mysterious origins. In the depths of the Great Depression, a baby was dropped off at the ramshackle home that Nell shared with single-mother Hazel, by a male stranger, in the middle of the night. Nothing more is said about it to the bewildered Nell, who quickly becomes a devoted big sister. She never asks, and Hazel makes it clear that she won’t tell. Does she even know Evie’s story?

During the 1930s timeline, however, the focus is not so much the girls and Hazel as it is fugitive mother Becca’s story. all is revealed in the 1970s timeline, when Nell takes it upon herself to get answers.

The double timeline occasionally trips over itself, largely because many of the 1930s characters are very relevant to the outcome, but their relationships are unclear. Hazel’s background is hazy until the end; by the time Evie and Becca get their story told, it’s hard not to have guessed. With this large and often overlapping-yet-separate cast, the many changes of setting (all beautifully depicted), and the multiple, also entwined- but -distinct stories unfolding, it’s hard to keep them straight. Some of the links, when revealed, are also a bit contrived, with too much power given to the villain. Still, the author’s story-telling and character development are excellent and I found myself willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of a good tale and beautiful writing.

Unfortunately this did not work for me and I gave up around 30%. Maybe it’s just me but the recent trend in literature with dueling POVs is getting tiresome. It’s hard to keep track of the characters. Once you get invested in one storyline, the POV switched. The pace was also just a little too slow for me. Thanks SOURCEBOOKS and NetGalley for the eARC for review.

This book was a trip through time. Starting in the 30’s and moving into the 70’s. It’s a story of survival, endurance and love. I was so moved by the last quarter of this book that I’m still in awe of the way this writer gave me hope and found family and yet a deep sense of loss for many of the characters. My book club chose The Girls in the Stilt House for this month’s selection and I’m picking it up next to read by this same author and I’m looking forward to another story by this gifted writer. Excellent story I highly recommend. 4.5 stars!

I was excited to see that there was a new book out by this author. I loved The Stilt Girls, a lot!

This book has two timelines, 2 stories, seemingly unconnected. One timeline is in the 1930s, during the tough depression. Becca is a young widow trying to bring up a toddler without family support. The 1970s is about Nell and Evie, who were sisters by chance with a very enigmatic “mother”. Nell is trying to figure out their past. It takes place in the Deep South, often close to the Mississippi River, sometimes in the mountains in the Carolinas. As in the previous book, the setting is very descriptive and important to the story.

BUT. And, I hate that there is a “but”. This story fell short for me. There were a few too many characters, especially in the 1930s segments. I had trouble trying to keep them straight in my mind. A name would pop up and I’d have to stop to try to figure out who it was. Some of the story felt disjointed. Maybe there were too many words. I'm not sure what it was.

As happens with two timelines, they come together in the end, in ways that I did not expect. And, I enjoyed that. In fact, I enjoyed the whole storyline. It had good elements: secrets, family, perseverance. I think it could have been presented a little more smoothly.

I would rate this a solid 3.5 stars, but I have to go up or down. I'll go up to 4 stars because I did enjoy the story, through my own confusion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.

I can't help it, sometimes the most captivating stories, the books that have you enthralled for days... are the most difficult to write a proper review about.

The River Knows Your Name is one of those books, a story that I am finding it not easy to put into simple words because of the layers and depth, the wonder of putting pieces together and finding out what was troubling Nell and Evie's mother all that time. The sisters being close, but even as adults are still children of her mother, in need of being mothered.
A very impressive story about doing the right thing, but at a cost.

I am very much looking forward to another book by Kelly Mustian.

Set in the depression along the Mississippi River, sisters Nell and Evie grew up with Hazel, their secretive and closed off mother. Nell often felt Hazel favored Evie, but with a 4 year age difference between them, she attributed it to Evie being younger.

Once grown, the sisters notice a change in Hazel. She has become more involved, getting in church choir and becoming more social. Nell decides to take it upon herself to learn more about Hazel, and due to a document she and Evie stumbled upon uses that as a starting point.

I really enjoyed the story. The dual timeline was not annoying and the characters were interesting. As the truth was revealed, the characters proved to have links to each other, some in a surprising way. I especially liked the villain’s (Mildred’s) link to a woman who ran a brothel!

This is a story about a lost child, a found family and a group of friends who share a strong bound and form to make an even larger family.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for allowing me to read an advance copy. I am happy to give my honest review and recommend this to readers.

A lyrical story of a mother’s love and a daughter’s search for the truth. I loved every sweeping minute of this dual timeline tale set in Depression-era Mississippi and 1970s North Carolina. Mustian’s beautiful writing about the landscape and time period is descriptive and impactful. She weaves the mystery’s threads together in a seamless way that leaves the reader turning the pages quickly to get to the answers. I learned so much about the everyday life of people in the Depression, especially mothers, and enjoyed picturing the swinging clubs and dusty streets. Highly recommend!

Which character is keeping the most secrets in this beautifully written dual timeline read?

The writing and storyline are just pull-you-in amazing.

We meet Hazel, Nell, Evie, Becca, Ben, and Mildred.

Evie is the connection to both time periods and families in both the 1930s and in 1971.

We follow Becca and Evie as they go through their days without Becca’s husband and Evie’s father Ben.

Becca finds out that her nasty mother-in-law, Mildred, kept information about her husband from her, and she does some other horrible things to Becca.

We also follow Hazel, Nell, and Evie as adults as we see what their life is like now and as they try to figure out what really happened during their childhood and the secrets their mother kept.

A marvelous, heartfelt, as well as heartbreaking read with wonderful characters you will love and feel for.

You will not want to put the book down, and you will need tissues at times.

THE RIVER KNOWS YOUR NAME has intrigue and is a you-have-to-know-how-it-all-happened read and how it all turns out. 5/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I had high hopes for The River Knows Your Name by Kelly Mustain. Although I did not read this author's first book, I read many positive reviews of it. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the slow pace and haphazard characterization of this novel.

I appreciated the dual perspectives of Nell and Becca, but I wanted to hear from Evie, since she was the subject of the biggest plot point. And to suddenly get Hazel's perspective near the end, although enlightening, felt like an afterthought. The pacing was quite slow, but I was most engaged during Becca's time in Natchez.

The southern settings of Mississippi and North Carolina were depicted beautifully and evocatively making me want to visit in person. The writing was mostly solid, although I will admit the incomplete sentences did get on my nerves. The resolution held some surprises but was still somewhat predictable.

I may recommend this to readers who like leisurely paced historical fiction from the south.

Thank you to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.