Cold River

Reading Cold River by Liz Adair made my week.

Leesie asked. “Say, can you help me here? Define ‘paradigm.’”
It took Mandy a moment to shift gears. “Paradigm? It’s a framework, or model, that is accepted and that everyone works—and even thinks—within.”
Leesie furrowed her brow. “So a paradigm shift would be . . . ”
“You know when you hear people talk about thinking outside the box? Maybe that’s what it means—seeing the world in a whole different way.”

When Mandy Steenburg is hired as superintendent for the Cascade School District in Limestone, she enters a world where the cultural history of the people winds through them like a river. It is manifested in their music, their language, and in their tight circle of loyalty. In Limestone, the circle closes to shut Mandy out.

Things become increasingly tense when she realizes that someone is purposely making attempts on her life.
“She has a face like a blind…