A Novel Set in Manaus, Brazil and NYC
River Aria, a sweeping story about family, the environment, music, oppression of minorities, poverty, immigration, and love.
I’m still thinking about the lovely, interesting novel I read a few weeks ago. It’s the third book in author Joan Schweighardt’s “River Series”.
River Aria opens in 1928, in Manaus, Brazil. A young woman, Estela Euquério Hopper, is the star vocal pupil of a world-renowned musician who came to Brazil to revive a magnificent opera house. It had been erected during the heady years when rubber seemed likely to change Brazil’s fortunes. Those days have ended (an interesting story of its own about which I knew little) and most of the population of Manaus is poor and struggling.
Estela has grown up among the river brats, scrounging for fish and looking out for poisonous snakes and other dangers. She’s fortunate to have a magnificent voice, a stellar musical education, and an American father. Her voice teacher arranges for her to get a job offer from the Metropolitan Opera House. It’s only to work in the sewing room, but Estela dreams of singing on the stage. I shivered when she’s called upon to join the opera chorus. That had been one of my dreams, to be standing nearby when a conductor came into the room to ask if anyone knew the soprano chorus part for Bizet’s Carmen. It never happened, but if it had, I was ready.
Estela’s cousin JoJo, another river brat, also comes to New York City, both to accompany Estela and to make his own way as an artist. In Brazil he was a fisherman, but in NYC, he quickly finds a cushy job that provides him with a room, money, and even work that he likes. At first, he just needs to paint a boat and navigate it down the Hudson River. His boss is a mobster who owns the boats, a speakeasy, and properties around the city. He takes good care of his employees, because he needs them to do his dirty work, like breaking the knees of anyone who can’t pay their rent.
Now JoJo wants out, but there’s a price to pay. And Estela has some secrets of her own, secrets that threaten to destroy her career. Plus, it seems that the heady days of Prohibition are about to come to an end and the stock market is about to crash.
Filled with rich details, fascinating historical tidbits, and stories within the story, it turns out that from the Amazon to the Hudson River, most people just want to live their dreams.
