"We are matter and long to be received by an Earth that conceived us, which accepts and reconstitutes us, its children, each of us, without exception, every one. The journey is long, and then we start homeward, fathomless as to what home might make of us."

When Chris Dombrowski burst onto the literary scene with Body of Water, the book was acclaimed as "a classic" (Jim Harrison) and its author compared with John McPhee. Dombrowski begins the highly anticipated The River You Touch with a question as timely as it is profound: "What does a meaningful, mindful, sustainable inhabitance on this small planet look like in the Anthropocene?"

He answers this fundamental question of our time initially by listening lovingly to rivers and the land they pulse through in his adopted home of Montana. Transplants from the post-industrial Midwest, he and his partner, Mary, assemble a life based precariously on her income as a schoolteacher, his as a poet and fly-fishing guide. Before long, their first child arrives, followed soon after by two more, all "free beings in whom flourishes an essential kind of knowing [...], whose capacity for wonder may be the beacon by which we see ourselves through this dark epoch." And around the young family circles a community of friends-river-rafting guides and conservationists, climbers and wildlife biologists-who seek to cultivate a way of living in place that moves beyond the mythologized West of appropriation and extraction.

Moving seamlessly from the quotidian-diapers, the mortgage, a threadbare bank account-to the metaphysical-time, memory, how to live a life of integrity-Dombrowski illuminates the experience of fatherhood with intimacy and grace. Spending time in wild places with their children, he learns that their youthful sense of wonder at the beauty and connectivity of the more-than-human world is not naivete to be shed, but rather wisdom most of us lose along the way-wisdom that is essential for the possibility of transformation.

• Bookseller finished book send to stores that sold the hardcover edition, as well as stores that sell the paperback edition of the author's previous book Body of Water
• Media outreach targeted at outlets that cover paper releases, as well as regional and outdoor/sports outlets
• Goodreads giveaway
• eBook promotions
• Newsletter promotion via the publisher to reader, sales and academic lists of more than 30K contacts
• Academic outreach to seed collection in MFA, environmental lit and memoir courses

About the Author

Chris Dombrowski is the author of The River You Touch. He is also the author of Body of Water: A Sage, A Seeker, and the World's Most Elusive Fish, and of three acclaimed collections of poems. Currently the Director of the Creative Writing program at the University of Montana, he lives with his family in Missoula.

Reviews

Praise for The River You Touch

"[The River You Touch] explores what it takes to live a meaningful life in a rapidly changing environment. Dombrowski's work offers a fresh take on Montana, not just as a playground for sport but as a nurturing home."-Debra Magpie Earling, The New York Times

"In prose you could sharpen a knife on, Dombrowski has followed his masterful Body of Water with a brilliant memoir. I can't do justice to a book as perfect in tone as this, so generous in pace and written with the inviting but dangerous intensity of rivers."-Christopher Camuto, Gray's Sporting Journal

"A poignant rumination on marriage, parenthood, friendship and what it means to connect with nature."-USA Today

"Montana-based poet and fly-fishing guide Chris Dombrowski tells a deeply personal story about his life on rivers, raising a family in a wild place with wild yearnings to live on the edge. A lyrical memoir and ode to trout and riparian ecosystems, every sentence of this book sings."-Outside Magazine

"There's enjoying nature, and then there's the ability to write well about it. The River You Touch is a love song that readers with the same musical taste are sure to admire."-Minneapolis Star Tribune

"The River You Touch is an excellent memoir about family, fatherhood and fishing from the wordsmith, Chris Dombrowski."-Forbes

"A heartfelt memoir of life and fatherhood in Big Sky country . . . Through a collection of vignettes, the author shares his concerns for the environment, the effects of the appropriation of land from Native inhabitants, and the emotions the landscape stirs in him. 'The angler standing in the river is not so much absolved of time as disburdened of it, able to shirk its weight' . . . Nature lovers will be captivated by Dombrowski's lyrical descriptions of the land and its wildlife, while parents are sure to relate to his familial challenges and sacrifice. A beautifully and poignantly written tribute to a beloved landscape and its spirit."-Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"The River You Touch, Chris Dombrowski's second nonfiction book, will change the way people see the world. . . . Equally weighted in this admirably woven memoir by a poet, teacher, river and fly-fishing guide, is the quotidian struggle of staying afloat in fast moving streams of financial hardship, environmental concern and creative ambition . . . Dombrowski raises the bar for all of us by casting light on maternal-male instincts. He torches the narrative of the single solitary man, gritting it out by himself, conquering the mountain, killing prey or whatever. He rightfully acknowledges the vital power of community that makes a great man toughened by his own vulnerability."-BOMB Magazine

"The River You Touch is a personal guide like no other . . . a lyrical, visually rich, once-in-a-lifetime river trip. . . . Packed with thought-provoking narrative that may guide you to being a better human."-Montana Quarterly

"A lyrical exploration of a beloved place and lifestyle steeped in the natural world, by a writer for whom quality of life supersedes the need for financial security. Will appeal to readers who relish memoirs that skillfully intertwine nature, the American West, and fishing."-Library Journal

"Dombrowski's prose is familiar and inviting... it's a subtle craft, this translation of outdoor commitment onto the page, extending leaves of solidarity to audiences unknown."-Christopher Schaberg, Flyfish Journal

"Heartfelt, moving, and gorgeously written, The River You Touch is a love song to the rivers of Montana, a love song to a way of life. Dombrowski writes with tenderness and insight and with a deep, personal gratitude to the rivers that have taught him who he is-a husband, a father, a fisherman, a poet, a person who loves the earth as well as mourns it. What a tremendous achievement."-Emily Ruskovitch, author of Idaho

"Midway through The River You Touch, poet and naturalist Chris Dombrowski tells us, 'To truly fathom a river, is to know it from its headwaters to its mouth...' To truly fathom a life-one's place, community, family, history, purpose on earth-is the sacred pursuit of this moving and beautifully written memoir. Here is the story of a man attempting to reckon with his cultural inheritance, his vocation, his past, and his responsibilities to family, land, and history. Along the route, he continuously encounters reminders of his own mortal smallness and, simultaneously, the numinous interconnection of all beings." -Lisa Wells, author of Believers

"You won't soon read a more beautiful book, nor one so earthy, wise, delicious, and alive. This is not a book about fish or rivers or Montana or parenting. This is a book, to paraphrase another poet, plain and simple, to break open the frozen sea within."-Rick Bass

"In the way a fable points us toward rightness, so The River You Touch leads us to a necessary truth: that deep knowledge and love of a place shapes us in all the ways we will need to survive. With poetry, vulnerability, and crisp storytelling, Dombrowski takes us into a wild, river-thrummed Montana, and into the stormswept territory of marriage and family. It's a journey with a guide who knows the country at a cellular level, and whose bafflement and wonder renews our own. The magic of the book is that I came away convinced that learning to love a trout, or an autumn snowfall, or a wolf crossing a river, would teach me to love a friend or a partner in pain-and so to love and be connected to all beings. Damn."-Peter Heller, bestselling author of The Dog Stars, The River, and The Guide

"With The River You Touch, Chris Dombrowski has established himself at the forefront of American writers of place. This beautiful, clear-eyed, tender memoir is as intimate as a love letter, brimming with wise observations on family, parenthood, home, duty, and passion. The Montana within these pages is wild and rugged, yes. But it is also as gentle as a cold stream running through your fingers or a child sleeping in your arms. I loved this book."-Nickolas Butler, bestselling author of Godspeed and Shotgun Lovesongs

Book Information
ISBN 9781639550852
Author Chris Dombrowski
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Milkweed Editions
Publisher Milkweed Editions