GRAND AMBITION

A near-miss of a first novel about the seductions of ambition and fame, in the fact-based story of a honeymooning couple who set off in 1928 to run the rapids of the Grand Canyon.

The promise of fame and riches exemplified by Charles Lindbergh’s flight, Hollywood’s star-making, and the frenzy on Wall Street seduced many in the late 1920s—including the two protagonists here, whose determination to make their names and fortunes was typical of the period. This gives the story of Bessie and Glen Hyde an intriguing philosophical and historical underpinning, for Bessie wants to be the first woman to run that notorious part of the Colorado River as it races between narrow banks and over dangerous rapids through the Grand Canyon; and Glen, an Idaho apple farmer, wants to enlarge his horizons by defeating the river and then joining the vaudeville circuit to describe how he did it. As the two set off in their homemade scow, West Virginia–born Bessie recalls a past that includes a brief marriage, an abortion, a year studying art in San Francisco, and then her meeting with Glen. Initially, they easily overcome the rapids they run and both are elated, but when Glen falls overboard and nearly drowns during one especially dangerous passage, Bessie becomes increasingly fearful. Then, when the two fail to meet at a certain rendezvous, Glen’s father is alarmed and starts tracking them. The account of his search alternates with the couple’s progress through the Canyon, a trek that’s briefly relieved by a restorative stay at the Canyon Hotel. Bessie is tempted to give up, but, although by now horribly afraid, agrees to continue, since the destination seems so near. But the river, alternately menacing and entrancing (and the best-realized presence in the book, the people seeming mere plot vehicles) has its own plans.

A grand ambition that thins into the disappointing.