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A single split-second unravels Corby Ledbetter’s life—and he has to live with what comes after.
In Wally Lamb’s The River Is Waiting, Corby is a stay-at-home dad quietly drowning in unemployment, marriage strain, and a hidden addiction. Then the unthinkable happens: in a tragic accident in his own driveway, he kills his 2-year-old son. Grief detonates his family, and Corby is sent to prison—an unforgiving world where “baby killer” is a target painted on your back.
Yet even inside the violence and humiliation, Corby finds small, startling pockets of humanity: an inmate who becomes a true friend, a librarian who offers steady kindness, and a troubled teen he tries to protect. As he fights for sobriety and meaning, the story becomes a raw question: What does redemption look like when forgiveness feels impossible?
Read the full summary to see how hope survives in the darkest places.
