“Well, then,” said Minerva at last, “what are we to believe?”

“Believe in what you do not know,” replied Mrs. Mortimer promptly. “Believe in your own ignorance.”

I wasn’t entirely happy with the last Robert Nathan book I read, but now I’ve finished The River Journey (published 1949) and it’s all right again. This novel is a sort of an allegory. I didn’t entirely understand it, but it raised the right issues.

Minerva Parkinson is a middle-aged housewife in an Iowa town on the Missouri River. When her doctor tells her she’s dying, she decides not to inform her husband Henry. Instead she intends to give him the adventure he’s always wanted but never reached out for. He’s always wanted to go down the river to St. Louis and New Orleans. So now she’ll cash in her stock certificates and buy a houseboat, and they’ll take that journey. She isn’t sure she’s made him happy all these years, but he’ll have this happy memory when she’s gone.

When they finally set out, she’s a little disappointed at first. Henry isn’t sure about this whole thing; it’s kind of frightening. He’s mostly coming along to please her. But the situation changes in Nebraska City, where they take on two passengers – a young woman named Nora and a mysterious, dark man named Mr. Mortimer. Mr. Mortimer, Minerva comes to realize, is Death. And Nora, like Minerva, is dying. When a flirtation begins between Nora and Henry, Minerva suppresses her jealousy, wanting to give them both a little happiness before she departs.

In terms of strict morality, I didn’t entirely approve of the plot of The River Journey. But I don’t think it’s intended to be taken on that level. This is a journey through the heart, a confrontation with mortality and the things we must leave behind.

The bottom line is that I enjoyed The River Journey very much. It possessed the full Robert Nathan magic.