Crowning Glory River's Journey, a story about passion and dreams in the dark and dangerous world of child abuse, bigotry, and lust introduces the reader to River. Her personal metaphorical journey must become a physical one, away from the 1950's racism of Hopewell, Texas if River is to successfully navigate her way through the maze of sexual, racial, gender, and work identities. Only then will she be able to discover and embrace her true worth as a black woman. Along the way there is much she must escape. Greg: her faithful but bland older husband; Adam, who awakens her sexually, and Manders, the white police chief who is determined to drive her away from a hard won and successful business. Thompson has written a compelling story. River's odyssey of pain and resurrection is a story for our time, raising powerful challenges to our cultural complacency regarding violence against the human spirit