A Confluence of Rivers: A Memoir Through Digital Love Letters
What is it like to love someone you’ve never met?
Katherine’s gripping true story tells how a chance connection at the dawn of the internet age deepened into companionship – through email correspondence alone – and became a heart-enveloping romance that crossed an ocean.
For more than two decades, she stored the memories not just in her heart but in a beat-up old office box, stashed away with their hundreds of printed emails, the remains of an epistolary love story that ultimately forced her to find a path through heartbreak. She never dared to reopen the box – until now.
A real-life chronicle unfolding like a novel, her improbable adventure begins with a simple tech support request. Before dating apps, before social media, the random digital encounter would culminate in a European rendezvous she could never forget. And yet…
Memory sometimes smooths rough edges, blurs details difficult to face. Now, with mysteries to resolve and emotions to confront, Katherine invites readers along as she cracks open the cardboard treasure chest to relive the exhilarating and painful episode. The old emails unearth startling discoveries, bringing to light pieces of the story and of herself that had become obscured.
A Confluence of Rivers will inspire you to reflect on life-chapters you yourself have long sealed away. What might it cost – and give back – for you to finally reopen them?
The memoirist shares her intensely vulnerable yet relatable narrative with unsparing candor and an uplifting touch. Her story is sure to captivate those who love to witness the unfurling of romance or who wax nostalgic for 1980s and ‘90s pop music and technology.
If you’ve ever loved deeply or wondered about your own memories, expect Katherine’s voice to stay with you long after the last page.
"Katherine S. Hansen’s memoir, A Confluence of Rivers, traces a woman’s sentimental journey as she revisits her past, and gently untangles her long-buried recollections about her life and love. Often unfolding like a moving novel exploring how a love is shattered by one's cruel fate and a heap of misunderstandings, the memoir is sure to keep readers enthralled by its simple yet deeply affecting narrative. What makes Hansen’s book outshine other memoirs is its openness to reinterpreting the past, and its return to the present not defeated but strengthened by reflection and acceptance."
~ IndieReader.com
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"At the heart of every friendship, marriage, or love story is a mystery—and there are several surprises and mysteries that unfold in Katherine S. Hansen’s memoir. Why is love the most powerful of human emotions that drives life’s most important decisions? “'You can choose anything your heart desires, but you cannot choose your desires' is a quote attributed to Schopenhauer. What happens to a woman who purchases a 'screen saver' online and winds up falling in love with a software engineer who lives thousands of miles away in a foreign country? Would you advise that woman to jump on a plane and travel to meet him? It seems like a disaster in the making, but in A Confluence of Rivers, an intelligent, literary, and music-loving narrator goes on a scavenger hunt in a long-forsaken box of memories...What does she find? The meaning of life and the experience of a deep personal love. Hansen’s book is an extended reflection on romantic love, free will, fate, human personality, German and American cultural idiosyncrasies, 90s computer tech, music, and Christian faith or the lack of it. With the precision of a forensic scientist or archeologist, Hansen tells a heart-rending story of email exchanges culminating in travel and life-changing personal connections. Highly recommended!"
~ Jonathan Thorndike, Author, Long Walk to Canterbury
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Hansen does an incredible job telling the story from memory before diving into the old emails that bear the truth of it all. I was swept away in the emotion, unable to pull myself away from the pages. Hansen’s honest writing allows you to feel every heartbeat, every hesitation, every spark of a love that grew across the wires. A Confluence of Rivers is a stunning reminder of the power of words, fate, and the magic of first connections."
~ Danell Parker, Author, What's Not Broken
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"Katherine has written an honest, heartbreaking love story in A Confluence of Rivers. Her writing exemplifies the vulnerability needed to look back on an unfulfilled love story without anger or regret, but with clarity and understanding. She shows what realistic personal growth truly looks like."
~ Tayler Otten, Owner and Editor, Tailored Literature LLC
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"Imagine that you saved a box of the printouts of all the emails that you wrote to your former fiancé in the 1990s. Now, more than twenty years later, would you read them? This is a beautiful set-up for a novel, but it’s even better for a memoir. To my way of thinking, the most successful memoirs show how and why the writer became the person they are today. Katherine Hansen shares her memories, and then shares the forgotten truths that her email correspondence reveals. She has a compelling voice which stayed in my head after I finished the last page."
~ Catherine Stover, Award Winning Author, Reviewer for Wisconsin Writers Association
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"I just finished your book, and WOW... What an incredible story! It is absolutely wild how such a trivial beginning spun into such a remarkable journey. Your writing style is so wonderfully engaging and personal that reading it felt like we were sitting on a porch together, sipping coffee and catching up.
I was completely hooked from start to finish. I found myself celebrating your highs, feeling the weight of your lows, and even muttering under my breath about what you or Thomas ought to do next! The way you broke up the book into pre/post "the Box" was a brilliant approach. You possess a true gift (several, really) and you have woven them together masterfully to deliver a piece of literature that is both deeply personal and emotionally engaging. Bravo!
On a more personal note, reading this memoir caused a bit of self-reflection on my part. I can't say I have experienced anything quite so dramatic as your life story, but reading this brought back some long dormant memories from my past. So thank you for that as well."
~ Joe Cotton, Home Repair Contractor and Entrepreneur