Meeting across the River: Stories Inspired by the Haunting Bruce Springsteen Song

Summary

“Meeting across the River,” from Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run album, is a song with an evocative melody and lyrics that unfold like a noir fable: a man down on his luck but desperate to make things right with his girl tells his buddy, Eddie, that they have to get across the river for a last-chance meeting with someone, all in the hopes of a big score, two grand. With that money, our hero can win back his girl and all will be right with the world—but if he and Eddie screw up, the consequences will be grave.

This classic American story of hope and despair serves as the inspiration for an eclectic mix of short stories written by an array of acclaimed authors, including Pam Houston, Eric Garcia, C. J. Box, David Corbett, Gregg Hurwitz, and Steve Hamilton. Springsteen’s spare lyrics leave much unsaid, and how these authors fill in the absences is what makes this collection, published a month before the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Springsteen’s Born to Run, such an unusual treasure, proving that, in literature, just as with music, no two performances are alike.