WHERE TWO WORLDS TOUCH begins with a phone call from Faire’s former long-term partner Robert, afflicted with a life-threatening illness in London. Faire does not hesitate to leave New Mexico for the UK, despite the heart-wrenching breakup of the year before, the result of one party’s obsession with work. Robert is an opera singer-turned-banker with a salary and schedule and, perhaps, a stymied creative bent to match. Their reunion begins with the exigencies of recuperation in “a squeezed, tall house” in Wimbledon, soon swapped for a homelier farmhouse in rural Kent. Reconnecting is a far slower process—a healing, Faire suspects, for both of them.

Faire comes across as an interesting, sensitive soul. Well-read, erudite, and nature-loving, he describes himself as a “reluctant mystic” (there is much talk of shamans, energy, and “the Mystery”). And yet, because these woo-filled passages do not offer proselytization, they are therefore entirely admissible and readable—simply part and parcel of how Faire perceives the world. A trained chef, Faire also makes food something of a character in the book. Not only does he have definite opinions on the foodstuffs surrounding him and his former partner; he appreciates Rayburn ovens and large kitchens as well. He also understands the profound sense of comfort and wellness that comes with eating a thoughtfully-created and artfully-prepared meal.

The book is marketed as “Memoir/Travel,” but hardly qualifies as the latter. Like most immigrants, Faire likes the place where he has fetched up, but in circumscribed ways. The fact that the National Health Service makes Robert’s five-week hospital stay cost nothing (whereas the same stay would be financially crippling in the US) is related with palpable gratitude. On the other hand, the staid manners, tending toward unfriendliness, of the English are frowned upon, as is the lack of clothes dryers and perennially-damp weather. The “travel” is limited to an extended tour of stately homes and gardens in the Home Counties, along with a brief trip to Connemara in Ireland. It is more apposite to say that the book offers a view of what it means to live in the UK—or, more particularly, a rural south-eastern corner of England (in what sound like very comfortable surroundings). Ruffles of the material sort are nowhere to be seen.

WHERE TWO WORLDS TOUCH is a moving, intensely sensual read. Author River Faire has crafted a work that, while covering some bleak, even elegiac moods, is ultimately uplifting in tone and form. Take this quote: “With a bit of grace, City Mouse and Country Mouse may find the dear, in-between house after all, with birdsong outside the windows rather than autos and passersby. The restorative balm of countryside and open spaces, where the breath is easy and full, the spirit uplifted.” Overall, WHERE TWO WORLDS TOUCH best works as a tale of two estranged people rediscovering love; and, in this regard, it is touching, tender, and hugely affecting.

WHERE TWO WORLDS TOUCH is more of a memoir than a travelogue, but author River Faire conveys the various sensations associated with life in another country, identity crisis, and the possibility of a second chance at love with verve and feeling.

~Craig Jones for IndieReader