Upstream

A beautifully written Appalachian novel that blends the heart of Peace Like a River, the reverence for nature found in Braiding Sweetgrass, and the generational storytelling of North Woods into a compelling mystery about faith, restoration, and choosing to live upstream rather than downstream.

Some secrets refuse to stay buried. Some lives can only be reclaimed by swimming against the current.

Seeking escape from the pressures of his former life as a big-city lawyer, Bishop Bryant uproots his family and moves to a cabin beside Locust Creek in the mountains of western North Carolina. He hopes the wilderness will offer renewal. Instead, his marriage unravels, his faith is tested, and he becomes the legal custodian of a $270 million trust held in limbo for nearly 150 years.

The trust can’t be settled until Bishop unravels the mystery of Elsie Ranks, the young daughter of a wealthy timberman who vanished in 1851. Aided by the angelic visitations of his own lost daughter, Bishop must unlock the truth of Elsie’s fate before the funds—designated for the restoration of the region’s damaged streams—are seized by the state to be used for other purposes.

Woven through Bishop’s story is the journey of Aksel and Atla, and other speckled trout, struggling to survive in waters scarred by logging, pollution, and devastating floods. Their instinctive passage upstream mirrors Bishop’s own search for the person he was created to become.

Blending Appalachian history, courtroom drama, mystery, humor, faith, and the natural world, Upstream is an unconventional allegory about the currents that shape us, the consequences of the paths we choose, and the courage required to return to clearer water.

Going downstream may be easier, but everything worth saving lies upstream.