"A city girl born in Detroit, Chana B. Cox never dreamed that attending Columbia
University in New York would lead to living and having a family in the Idaho Primitive
area. Trading in academia for wilderness,
A River Went out of Eden
is the powerful story of Chana Cox's years on the Salmon River with her husband,
Rodney Cox, and his uncle, Sylvan Ambrose Hart, the Last of the Mountain Men.
This account of a modern woman learning to cope without the conveniences of modern
life, and without family or community, is reminiscent of the pioneers who settled
the west, is told with wit and a spare uncluttered style. It was a life of hard
work in a setting of unparalleled natural beauty, filled with drama and excitement
and drudgery, building a house on a foundation torn from the rock of the mountain,
or simply traveling the road or the river. But ultimately the stark reality of living
exacted too dear a price."
Jean Auel