Twelve writers consider the subject of rivers and how they shape us throughout our lives, demarcating cities as well as moulding our creative consciousness. Tessa Hadley revisits Rumer Godden's The River; Jo Hamya pays homage to Virginia Woolf; Michael Malay goes nightfishing for eels by the river Severn; and Marchelle Farrell revisits the tropical waterfalls of her childhood home in Trinidad. Tender and astute, By the River explores the cultural, social and psychological significance of the rivers that run through our societies and our minds, bringing together these twelve contemporary writers in a celebration of water and its transformative qualities.