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Book Cover for: The River Is Waiting (Oprah's Book Club), Wally Lamb

The River Is Waiting (Oprah's Book Club)

Wally Lamb

Critic Reviews

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Based on 6 reviews on

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OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK

#1 New York Times bestselling author Wally Lamb, celebrated for two prior Oprah Book Club selections, returns with an exceptional third pick, a propulsive novel following a young father grappling with unbearable tragedy as he searches for hope, redemption, and the possibility of forgiveness.

Corby Ledbetter is struggling. New fatherhood, the loss of his job, and a growing secret addiction have thrown his marriage to his beloved Emily into a tailspin. And that's before he causes the tragedy that tears the family apart. Sentenced to prison, Corby struggles to survive life on the inside, where he bears witness to frightful acts of brutality but also experiences small acts of kindness and elemental kinship with a prison librarian who sees his light and some of his fellow offenders, including a tender-hearted cellmate and a troubled teen desperate for a role model. Buoyed by them and by his mother's enduring faith in him, Corby begins to transcend the boundaries of his confinement, sustained by his hope that mercy and reconciliation might still be possible. Can his crimes ever be forgiven by those he loves?

Book Details

  • Publisher: S&s/ Marysue Rucci Books
  • Publish Date: Jun 10th, 2025
  • Pages: 480
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 6.30in - 9.10in - 1.30in - 1.41lb
  • EAN: 9781668006399
  • Categories: LiterarySagasCrime

About the Author

Lamb, Wally: - Wally Lamb is the author of six New York Times bestselling novels: I'll Take You There, We Are Water, Wishin' and Hopin', The Hour I First Believed, I Know This Much Is True, and She's Come Undone. Lamb also edited Couldn't Keep It to Myself and I'll Fly Away, two volumes of essays from students in his writing workshop at York Correctional Institution, a women's prison in Connecticut, where he was a volunteer facilitator for twenty years. Lamb lives in Connecticut with his wife, Christine, and they have three sons.

Critics’ reviews

Praise for this book

"The River is Waiting is an ambitious, affecting novel that's not afraid to look directly at human suffering, and to map out the pain we inflict on others, and on ourselves. With an unflinching eye and an unsentimental compassion for his characters, Wally Lamb finds glimmers of hope and healing and decency in the darkest places." --Tom Perrotta, New York Times bestselling author of The Leftovers and Little Children