I cannot recommend highly enough ONE MORE RIVER by Mary Glickman. I’ve been calling people to tell them to read it. I even convinced someone’s book club. Plus, ONE MORE RIVER is a 2011 National Jewish Book Award finalist in fiction, first runner up to Aharon Appelfeld's UNTIL THE DAWN'S LIGHT.

ONE MORE RIVER begins in the 1960s in Vietnam. That’s where Mickey Moe Levy is, associating what is around him with what he knows from home in order to live through his time there. In so doing, he recalls his family’s past.

Mickey Moe remembers especially meeting his wife, the beautiful Laura Ann. And now we need some background.

So we go back to Mississippi in the 1930s and 1940s before Mickey Moe was born. His mother, a beautiful high-born southerner, was somehow attracted to his father, an unattractive man with an unknown past but lots of money. They married, raised a family, and lived in a huge home in a swanky neighborhood and gave lavish parties. They always had lots of money, and were unaffected during the Great Depression.

But then Mickey Moe’s father died in World War II, and his mother couldn’t locate his money or his relatives. Mickey Moe was only 4 years old at the time. But it wasn’t until he was 25 that he bothered to look into the mystery that was Bernard Levy, Mickey Moe’s father. Mickey Moe needed to prove to Laura Ann’s parents that all his family history would meet with their approval.

So ONE MORE RIVER tells Bernard Levy’s story, beginning with his childhood. In alternating chapters, Mickey Moe recalls his and Laura Ann’s search for the truth about Bernard Levy. This is two stories, one mystery.

The writing is superb, the style original. At least, I can’t think of another author whose writing style is like Glickman’s. This book made me wish I could read it nonstop, with no interruptions, no need to go to work.