The River Bottoms

"If you truly want to feel, not just know, what it was like to grow up in the middle of nowhere in the 1930s and '40s, as the son of an alcoholic and abusive father, this fictional story, based on the real-life experiences of the author's father, won't disappoint."

   --Ric Cox, former Senior Staff Editor, The Reader's Digest

Growing up in the time of the depression was hard on all Americans.  But doing so under the ruling hand of a violently abusive father was at...
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"If you truly want to feel, not just know, what it was like to grow up in the middle of nowhere in the 1930s and '40s, as the son of an alcoholic and abusive father, this fictional story, based on the real-life experiences of the author's father, won't disappoint."

   --Ric Cox, former Senior Staff Editor, The Reader's Digest

Growing up in the time of the depression was hard on all Americans.  But doing so under the ruling hand of a violently abusive father was at best, impossible.  Will Mueller, his mother, brother and sister were scarred physically and emotionally.  His brother and he would wander the river bottoms around where they lived to explore and have great adventures to escape the tyranny of their home life.  Will experienced more as a young child than most people do in their whole lives.  He met very interesting people, both good and bad.

            The one thing that kept the family together was his mother's faith.  She instilled that faith into her young son.  Will's mother was a rock for him and his siblings.  Alcohol usually fueled his father's tirades but his father drank all of the time.  There was little relief from the violence.  As a grown man, Will travels back to where it all began and thanked God that he made it.