Book Review: Where Two Worlds Touch

Reviewed by Lindsay Crandall

An illuminating and bittersweet personal story of second chances

Where Two Worlds Touch: An Outsider’s Memoir in England is River Faire’s telling of his journey from “happily ever after” to heartbreak and back again.  Faire’s memoir starts with him living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, receiving a phone call from his ex-partner, Robert. “The doctor has told me to put my affairs in order and be in the hospital within two hours,” he says.

River, an alternative healer, offers him a meditation to guide him through the days to come and a promise to return to England if Robert survives the surgery he is set to receive.  After five weeks in the hospital with odds of survival less than twenty percent, Robert returns to his townhouse in Wimbledon.

River joins him, leaving his life in New Mexico behind, returning to the townhouse that they once shared, with a promise to stay for the next six months. This house does not hold happy memories for River and he has not missed it. He has told Robert he is not interested in resuming his role as an intimate partner but wants to provide support and care as a best friend. 

As Robert’s health improves and he and River become comfortable in their new roles in each other’s lives, they move from Wimbledon to a charming farmhouse in Kent.  It’s this house that allows River to truly connect to the nature and magic around them.  When Robert returns to his world of finance, River returns to nature.  He walks along roads and lanes, along footpaths and trails, eventually purchasing an Ordinance Survey map that guides him through fields and streams. With a rucksack full of water and sustenance, he rambles the English countryside by day and tends to Robert by night. Before long, River finds himself tending a home as he and Robert find their way back together.

Where Two Worlds Touch is a devastatingly honest account of heartbreak and second chances. Few writers have such keen self-awareness as Faire. His descriptors may be prolific and at times unnecessary, but he imbues each paragraph with an almost visceral sense of reality. Although I have never traveled to the places described in Where Two Worlds Touch, I feel as if I have been there now. Faire, a Paris-trained chef, includes vivid details of memorable meals cooked in various kitchens during this time in his life too. These are some of my favorite parts of his story. 

Faire describes his memoir as “one part love story, one part celebration of the table, one part ode to nature, and one part soul guide,” which is spot on. Faire provides a unique perspective on reading the signs that life places in our path and ultimately following the intricacies of what the heart wants. 

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