Some towns hold their secrets tight, and then some towns surrender them to the water. Unsolicited Press is proud to announce the publication of Black River, the new novel by Yvonne Osborne, arriving July 28, 2026.
Nineteen-year-old Boyd Sopal has always expected to inherit the work of his family’s Michigan farm. The land is in his blood, and his future appears settled. But someone has been cutting the farm’s fences and spraying orange dust across its fields, threatening the Sopals’ organic operation. Boyd’s father suspects a neighboring farmer with a longstanding grudge, and Boyd soon finds himself pulled into a feud he did not start and cannot control.
The arrival of an itinerant family across the road complicates everything. Boyd is immediately drawn to Maggie, the family’s enigmatic daughter, even as the hostility surrounding both families grows more dangerous. When a confrontation involving Maggie’s protective brother and volatile father ends in bloodshed, Boyd is forced to make a decision that will bind all three of them together.
To protect Maggie and her traumatized brother, Boyd consigns a terrible secret to the fast-moving currents of the Black River. But the river is an unpredictable witness.
As the past threatens to surface, Boyd and Maggie must navigate guilt, racial tension, inherited loyalties, and the consequences of what they have done. Their story moves from Michigan’s rural farming country into the remote wilderness of the Upper Peninsula and the furthest reaches of Northern Ontario, where distance offers no protection from the truth.
Black River is a gripping novel about love, survival, family legacy, and the heavy price of silence. It asks what we owe the people we love, what we take with us from those who came before us, and whether any secret can remain buried forever.
If you love atmospheric fiction, small towns where everyone is watching, young lovers under pressure, and consequences that refuse to stay hidden, Black River belongs on your shelf.
Order Black River directly from Unsolicited Press
Yvonne Osborne lives with her husband on a fifth-generation family farm in Michigan’s Thumb. A Pushcart-nominated poet and novelist, her work has appeared in Slippery Elm Literary Journal, Flapper Press, and Milkhouse Literary Magazine. Her debut novel, Let Evening Come, was published by Unsolicited Press on April 2, 2024, and became the press’s bestselling book of the year. Learn more at yvonneosborne.com.
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