Jess has always been close to her crotchety grandfather, even though other people are a little bit afraid of him. She understands his passion for painting and he, in turn, understands her passion for swimming. After Grandpa has a heart attack, his health steadily declines. He insists on returning to his boyhood home so that he can finish a mysterious painting he calls “River Boy.” There Jess immediately sees--and swims in--the real river that inspired Grandpa’s painting, but there’s still no boy in the painting, or in reality. Or is there? Who is the strange boy with black hair that Jess sometimes sees swimming in the river? Is he somehow connected to Grandpa’s past? Bowler’s quietly emotional novel has a sense of intrigue that gently pulls the reader along, just as the river and the enigmatic stranger gently pull at Jess. (Age 12 and older)