The River is a passionate account of the Pages River (a branch of its big sister, the Hunter River) that flows through the author's property, Elmswood, near Scone, New South Wales. Besides participating in the river's ups and downs - its mighty floods and stagnant exhaustion during drought - Newell follows the political, community and environmental twists and turns that are so crucial to the Pages' survival. Delving into the river's rich past (geological, Aboriginal and settler) and considering its future (increasingly threatened by water users and irrigators, from big business to bio-dynamic farmers like herself), Newell's account tackles a topic of great national relevance and concern: the deteriorating state of our waterways and, consequently, life on the land. A very readable and personal book about one of Australia's most critical environmental issues...