Sometimes it takes a death to make us see life clearly.

Maebelle Pope, a long-time city dweller, returns to the north Florida country, where she was raised, to keep a promise to her beloved grandmother by scattering her ashes along the river she loved, and along which Maebelle was raised. River Whispers chronicles her solitary boat journey through the wilderness, during which she finds companionship, falls into mortal danger, and recalls a long-forgotten violent death. The tall tales of river life she heard as a child come back to haunt her as she slowly recognizes the awful truth of her grandmother's life.