ACROSS THE RIVER UP TO THE MOUNTAIN

The lives of two strangers on opposite sides of the world intersect through the world of dreams and a twist of fate.

Gloria Foundling lives a quiet, but isolated, life in Michigan. At 17, she married her first serious boyfriend, Joe, with whom she has twin sons. After 20 years of marriage, Joe abruptly leaves without a word of explanation. Gloria continues to work at an insurance company, where she is ostracized by her co-workers. In Oslo, musician Jarius Heidenborg is at a crossroads in his life. Despite years of hard work, his band is rejected by a major record company, and the club where they play is closing. These pressures strain his relationship with his wife, Vita, and she leaves him. Gloria and Jarius both dream of a beautiful valley where they find a profound connection with a stranger. In her waking life, Gloria’s life is transformed when she meets Immanuel Walkanby and his father, who invite her on a trip of self-discovery. She returns home with renewed confidence and soon serendipitously connects with Jarius through Facebook. They fall for each other, discovering that they’d met previously in their dreams and share a fervent interest in music. But temptations and a diabolical enemy threaten to separate them forever. Snyder’s debut is an unusual tale of true love, self-discovery, and loyalty. Gloria Foundling is a sympathetic hero. She kept her musical abilities buried while she pursued marriage and a career, and her transition to a confident woman who revels in her previously hidden talents resonates throughout the novel. The settings are lavishly detailed, particularly during the dream scenes with Jarius and an extended sequence where Gloria travels with Immanuel’s father to several countries, including Spain, Italy, and Norway. Unfortunately, hard-to-follow storylines, long passages of text without breaks for dialogue or paragraphs, and grammatical flubs mar the storytelling.

An involving romance that needs polishing.