What Would You Do for Love?

by Dale Harcombe | More from this Blogger

What would you do for love? How far would you go for the one you love? These are the questions asked and answered in Where the River Ends by Charles Martin. This is a beautiful picture of a marriage and the total commitment of a couple to each other despite the odds.

Chris is from what most people would term 'trailer trash.' Abbie is a senator's daughter and used to minks and diamonds. Despite all against them, including her family, they commit to each other and marry. Abbie constantly builds Chris up and actively encourages Chris to use and expand his artistic talent.

Then Abbie gets cancer. Despite all the chemo and surgery, eventually the doctors give her no hope. Her father wants to make her as comfortable as possible in a hospice but Abbie has other ideas. She asks Chris to take her back to the river where they started. She makes a wish list of ten things she wants to do before she dies. Chris promises to help her achieve them

He manages to get hold of enough drugs to keep her as comfortable as possible. Making their way down the river, they start a life on the run for her father who is determined to bring her back, and has police and media all aimed at finding the couple.

The story moves backwards and forwards in time, as it tells of their progress down the river but also back to when they first met and their years together. It also includes the journey they shared from the time they first found out Abbie had cancer.

This book is essentially a love story that has a lot to say about what marriage means. In the course of caring for Abbie and trying to fulfill his promise to her, Chris risks everything. He puts his art career on hold and commits totally to her wellbeing. He risks everything, his career, his reputation his life and his freedom to please the one he loves. That's real love. Not the wishy washy excuse for love that oases for love in so many films and books. It's a total commitment, through the good and the bad times. It's the way marriage should be.

I couldn't help but wonder after reading the interview with the author in the back how much this young man had learned from his own marriage but also from the models of marriage he had before him. The dedication in the front says 'For my grandparents, Ellen and Tillman Cavert... who have loved well for sixty-seven years.'

Isn't that the sort of thing you'd like people to notice about your marriage - that you loved well for a long time? I know it's what Mick and I'd like others to notice in ours.

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Learn more about Dale Harcombe

Dale has a passion for books and writing. She writes in various forms, from articles to poetry to fiction for children and adults.

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