Episode #218
The Don River, Near-Death Experience, Dreams and Intuition in a Mental Hospital and Lives Transformed with Author Robin Blackburn McBride
In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with Author and Poet Robin Blackburn McBride about her book River of Dreams , a character-driven blend of historical, metaphysical, and women’s fiction. The novel follows Avery Conlon from a mysterious childhood experience in Toronto’s Don River to her work as a nurse in a 1920s mental hospital, where she uses heightened intuition to help women return home. Robin explains how research into near-death experiences, dreams, intuition, period language, and early mental-health care shaped Avery’s story. She distinguishes the novel’s “supernormal” elements from fantasy, framing them instead as an invitation to consider the limits of perception while Avery quietly navigates institutional power, personal doubt, and a growing connection with a curious and open-minded neurologist. Our conversation also reveals the personal history behind the book: Robin’s great-grandmother entered a mental hospital and never returned home, a silence that continued to affect later generations. Against that legacy, the Don River becomes both setting and symbol: a place of transformation that connects memory, dreams, healing, and the larger question of how the stories we tell shape who we are and who we become.
