River Runs Deep by Jennifer Bradbury (review)

In the early nineteenth century, both cause and reliable cure for tuberculosis were unknown, and any number of nostrums and treatments seemed, for desperate sufferers, to be worth a try. Thus twelve-year-old Elias ends up at the “hospital” of Dr. Croghan, deep in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave, where the doctor believes patients will benefit from its vapors. Elias does, in fact, get better quickly, but no thanks to the vapors. Rather, the slaves who work in the cave as hospital assistants and tour guides slip water from a cave river into his diet. While Croghan rejoices in his model patient’s rapid recovery and ponders why other sufferers aren’t experiencing the same success, Mr. Pennyrile, a patient in an advanced stage of the disease, suspects both the source of the healing water and a community of runaway slaves hiding in the caves. He pressures Elias into aiding his plot to secure his cure, capitalize financially on the remedy, and claim the bounty on the slaves, all in one high-stakes gamble. Although Bradbury’s tale is largely speculative, the possibility of each plot point is credible and the cast, from Croghan to the African-American tour guides, is drawn from real life. Mr. Pennyrile’s schemes add a fair amount of tension to the intriguing story, and Elias’ grappling with the morality of slavery is both thoughtful and realistic. The cave itself (map included) enjoys a featured role, and readers up for a satisfying fusion of historical fiction, conspiracy, and survival will want to explore.