Susan E. Sage’s SILVER LADY: Travels Along the River Road offers a refreshing, highly original spin on the post-apocalyptic premise. The novel centers on Cassie Navrone, a retired teacher-turned-houseboat-captain who has agreed to drive the seventy-foot Silver Lady two thousand miles downriver to its owner. Against a backdrop of societal collapse—where civil unrest, vanishing artworks, and the looming threat of another pandemic have fractured the nation into a patchwork of unstable territories—Cassie’s river journey becomes both an escape and a quest for meaning in a world teetering on the edge of chaos.
At its heart, SILVER LADY is a story of human connection and self-discovery. Cassie’s relationships with her fellow travelers, many of whom are artists or poets, evolve in touching and unexpected ways as they face pirates, storms, and their own inner demons. Sage confidently explores contemporary themes of aging, loneliness, and finding purpose in a world coming apart at the seams: “What doesn’t disappear, and hopefully won’t, are the connections I’ve made on this river ride. Without them, the shifting scenery would have been only props and backdrops moved on and off the stage.”
Wisely side-stepping heavy-handed exposition and gratuitous action sequences, Sage prefers to let her story unfold through a series of vignettes and surreal encounters. That’s not to say there aren’t a handful of unexpected twists and turns, but SILVER LADY is anything but a collection of plot points. Instead, Sage focuses on the inner lives of her characters and the dreamlike quality of their trek. This is all juxtaposed with a set of circumstances that feel all too real. In a post-COVID world, things like the Great Collapse, the Vanishing, and even the DSA, or “the soon-to-be, Disunited States of America,” carry with them a sobering sense of plausibility that is always there lurking between the lines.
One of the novel’s greatest strengths is the balance of fantastical elements with grounded, relatable human drama. The strange occurrences along the river–such as the Island of Lost Children or encounters with doppelgangers–serve as compelling set pieces, but they never overshadow the core narrative of Cassie’s personal growth and the evolving character dynamics. While predominantly told from Cassie’s first-person perspective, Sage also incorporates first-person accounts from the other characters, creating a multi-voiced narrative structure that effectively adds to the growing sense of shared confusion.
For her part, Sage’s writing is lyrical and evocative, especially when describing the ever-changing riverscape. She has a gift for crafting vivid imagery that perfectly captures the surreal nature of Cassie’s odyssey: “One moment the water’s pitch-black, but then it’s blue or green. It’s so clear we can see the bottom, but then—for no apparent reason it turns murky. Maybe it’s like a crystal ball and we’ll be able to see events before they happen or as they’re happening elsewhere. To read a river—what a gift that would be!”
At just over two hundred pages, SILVER LADY is perfectly paced, alternating between moments of quiet introspection and scenes of heightened tension. The novel’s murky, occasionally implausible details (such as The Vanishing or Facebook ads in the year 2033) and the open-ended conclusion may frustrate die-hard genre readers looking for more concrete resolutions. However, those willing to suspend disbelief will find a unique entry in the post-apocalyptic genre–one that favors introspection and wonder over violence and despair.
For readers seeking a more contemplative take on end-of-the-world scenarios, Susan E. Sage’s SILVER LADY offers a thoughtful, beautifully written exploration of human resilience and connection in the face of societal upheaval.
~James Weiskittel for IndieReader