Doss Michaels and Abbie Coleman seemed like an unlikely pair. He was a fishing guide and struggling artist from a South Georgia trailer park. She was the beautiful only child of South Carolina's most powerful senator. Yet once they met by accident, they each felt they'd found their true soul mate.. For ten years of wedded bliss they considered themselves the luckiest people in the world.

When Abbie discovers a lump in her breast, everything changes, and life as she and Doss have known it ceases to exist. After four years of experimental treatments, unending nausea, toxic drugs, and the best medicine her family's money can buy, Abbie is ready to throw in the towel. But Doss is not. And so they steal away from the hospital together in the middle of the night, and start a 130-mile trip down the Saint Mary's River--a voyage Doss promised Abbie in the early days of their courtship. With them is Abbie's list of the ten things she has hoped to accomplish in life. There is nothing extraordinary on her list--no Everest climbs, no marathons or tours of remote corners of the globe--Abbie's wishes are for the simple things that years of illness have denied her.

Heart-wrenchingly emotional, skillfully written, and ultimately uplifting, Where the River Ends is rich with compelling characters in extraordinary circumstances. Readers will root for Abbie and Doss as they make their journey though love, loss, hope, and redemption, and applaud this new novel from a talented and successful author.

"In this sentimental story about a terminal cancer patient's demise, Martin (When Crickets Cry) examines the lengths to which a loving husband will go for his dying wife. Doss Michaels, a portrait painter with a 'trailer trash' background, marries Charleston, S.C., debutante Abbie Eliot Coleman, raised primarily by her demanding U.S. senator father after her mother died of ovarian cancer when Abbie was two. A decade after Abbie and Doss's marriage, her father and stepmother will still have little to do with Doss. Abbie develops breast cancer that later metastasizes to her brain, and tensions rise when Abbie's parents want her to spend her last days with them. But Doss and Abbie, armed with Abbie's top 10 wish list and fistfuls of medication, begin a 129-mile river journey from the small town of Moniac, Ga., on the St. Mary River out to the ocean. Martin brings to life the varying flora and fauna of this often fraught journey, while he captures the singular atmosphere of life on a changeable river as it traverses through varying Georgian and Floridian terrain. In the tradition of Nicholas Sparks and Robert James Waller, Martin has fashioned a heartbreaking story. (July)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

A powerfully emotional and beautifully written story of heartbreaking loss and undying love, "Where the River Ends" chronicles a married couple's love-filled, tragedy-tinged journey and their bond that transcends all.

Martin's beautifully written novel is a powerfully emotional and ultimately uplifting story of heartbreaking loss and undying love.

A powerfully emotional and beautifully written story of heartbreaking loss and undying love

He was a fishing guide and struggling artist from a south George trailer park. She was the beautiful only child of South Carolina’s most powerful senator. Yet once Doss Michaels and Abigail Grace Coleman met by accident, they each felt they’d found their true soul mate.

Ten years into their marriage, when Abbie faces a life-threatening illness, Doss battles it with her every step of the way. And when she makes a list of ten things she hopes to accomplish before she loses the fight for good, Doss is there, too, supporting her and making everything possible. Together they steal away in the middle of the night to embark upon a 130-mile trip down the St. Mary’s River—a voyage Doss promised Abbie in the early days of their courtship.

Where the River Ends chronicles their love-filled, tragedy-tinged journey and a bond that transcends all.

CHARLES MARTIN is the author of six novels. He and his family live in Jacksonville, Florida.