UPRIVER is a companion to Gordon Williams's novel The Limerence of Alice Rossetti, and is an in-depth account of the intrigues and turbulent times of Alice Rossetti's ancestors, from their beginnings in Genoa in the north of Italy in the late 1700s, through their Bristol years and up to the 1990s and the time of Alice's troubles. It takes us through the final years of Bristol's slave trade and the Industrial Revolution, to the workings of the Rossetti and Bennett families through the World Wars and up to the 'quiet revenge' taken by Peter Matthew Bennett on his unscrupulous father.

The creation of this 'History' by Alice's grandfather Peter takes place in the storyline of The Limerence of Alice Rossetti, and expands on the historical events and characters that are a crucial part of the Novel.