The novel centers on Eva, a strikingly pretty but tough girl from a troubled Southern family, who carries her damage into adulthood, hits bottom, and learns she must pull herself out inch by inch. Growing up in Mississippi, Eva knows at an early age that hers will be a difficult life. Her father, a closet transvestite, is an alienated and pathetic man. Her mother is a severe alcoholic with a voracious appetite for sex. Her stepfather is an abusive man who keeps her mother locked in a cycle of addiction." "An intense and perceptive child, Eva registers the chaos around her with piercing clarity. Her rage at first manifests itself in violence, then, tragically, in her spiraling surrender to alcoholism and madness. Eva's circuitous life takes her through a harrowing battle with psychiatrists, a search for love, a hard marriage, and an unavoidable confrontation with her family demons. On the verge of death, and with the help of the only person she has ever been able to love, Eva understands that there is but one way to conquer her disease." "This is an unforgettable novel of family agony and the indomitability of the human spirit. Lorian Hemingway writes with unwavering honesty and a Faulknerian sense of mood and place. Walking into the River will be hailed for its depth of feeling, its brilliant imagery, and its uplifting heart, but it will also be celebrated as proof that literary torches can indeed be passed.