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With the country locked in ice, “True North,�� Andrew J. Graff’s warmhearted story about a summer of white-water rafting, sounds like the vacation we all need. Graff’s second novel offers just enough drama to be exciting and just enough reassurance that everybody will get home safe.

But the stakes couldn’t be higher for Sam Brecht, the optimistic young man who puts this adventure in motion. Desperate to save his failing marriage, he’s already run through a series of bold visions, including a pick-your-own blueberry farm that, somehow, never got off the ground. Now, with two kids and a new baby, Sam suspects he’s about to lose his job as a high school art teacher, so he needs a sure thing.

I’m no financial adviser, but when your best side hustle starts with buying a brand-new 23-foot-long Winnebago, you’re on the scenic route to bankruptcy. And yet that monster vehicle is only the smallest part of Sam’s last-ditch scheme. With money from his retirement savings �� surely vast, given his degree in ceramics �� he’s also bought a run-down rafting company in Wisconsin. Back in the day, he and his wife, Swami, had fallen in love near a river. “Maybe,�� he thinks, “another river could make everything right again.��

This would be a brilliant plan if the fundamental problem with Sam’s marriage was dehydration.

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