Tonight I attended a OneBookAZ Authors night, and event sponsored/arranged by our office. OneBookAZ is a project in its (?) third year, where every April, one book is selected as a common one read by groups across the state and events are arranged for discussion etc.
This year there were actually two books:
one a non-fictional account and the other a fictionalized account of the “Honeymoon Couple” Glen and Bessie Hyde who attempted to raft the Colorado River in 1928 in a hand build wooden “scow”. Brad Dimcock’s Sunk Without a Sound, The Tragic Colorado River Honeymoon of Glen and Bessie Hyde is thoroglhy researched, photographed, and tells not only the story as the facts and accounts reveal, but also the author’s own experience in recreating the attempt in 1996.
As a contrast, Lisa Michael’s Grand Ambition is a novel version of what she envision happened to the couple during the trip paired with Glen’s father’s heroic efforts to try and search for them after they failed to check in as planned.
I had never read a fictionalized and non-fiction version of the same “story” so this was a fascinting experience. The authors met with a group of maybe 60 students, teachers, and communiyy members at Phoenix College, signed books, and answered questions in a discussion format.
You will have to read one o both yourself to find out what happened to the Hydes…
