York Times, describing it as “one of the saddest books I have ever read; not because I am moved to compassion by the conjunction of love and death in the Colonel's life, but because a great talent has come, whether for now or forever, to such a dead end”. Plot summary The first chapter of Across the River and Into the Trees begins with a frame story depicting 50-year-old Colonel Richard Cantwell duck hunting in the Marano Lagoon, between Venice and Trieste in the present, taking place during the closing days of World War II. It is eventually revealed that Cantwell, referred to throughout the book simply as Colonel, has a terminal heart condition. Beginning in the second chapter, the book is presented primarily through a flashback narrative of the Colonel's experiences during both World Wars, from his service in the Italian army during World War I, to his time in the American Army, ascending to general before being demoted to colonel. Hemingway provides great detail in describing Italy, from its landscape to its food and drink. The primary narrative of the book focuses on the Colonel's romance with the 18-year-old Venetian Renata, whom he calls Daughter. Renata is aware of the Colonel's terminal illness, and the book details how both characters come to terms with the Colonel's impending death. Many of the Colonel's wartime memories are revealed as stories he tells to Renata, who wants to "share" in his experiences. The novel ends with Cantwell suffering a fatal series of heart attacks as he leaves Venice after the duck hunt, on the same day as the book began. Shortly before dying, the Colonel recounts to his driver Stonewall Jackson's last words, from which the novel draws its name: "No, no, let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees." The final scene shows the driver reading a note the Colonel had given him, indicating that his belongings should be given to their "rightful owner", Renata. Background and publication Ernest Hemingway first met A. E. Hotchner, who later became a close friend, in 1948 when Hotchner, recently released from the Air Force, had taken a job with Cosmopolitan Magazine as a "commissioned agent." Hemingway's name was on the list of authors Hotchner was to contact, so he went to Cuba, asked for a meeting (Hemingway took him to a bar), and for a short article.