Echoes of a Silent River

By Rebekah Fawn Cochran

ISBN 1-59113-370-X

2002, paper, 238 pages

            This book brings the reader a part of the story of the People told in their own voices.  The words of Strikes-Standing, Angel May and Old Man--the word picture of the massacre painted by Wrens Song give the words and the story an unexpectedly sharp edge.

                        "Our stories were and are the life songs

                         making no noise,

                         Until they break through the ground

                         to reach the sky and our tongues."

            The dignity, cadence and resonance of the lines Rebekah Fawn Cochran has created are a perfect way to tell the story of the largest massacre of Native Americans in the history of the United States.

            Echoes of a Silent River is a powerful tale of fiction that is beautifully interwoven with the true story of the Bear River Massacre.  It tells this poignant story as if seen through eyes of the people most affected. Cochran brings to life through her poems what she describes as 'echoes' of courage, honor, desperation, and humor.  Intertwined throughout is the quirky love story of Josiah Bliss and a mysterious fire-haired woman. 

A.H.Holt, editor

WesternFictionReview

June 2004