With candor and sympathy, debut novelist Nathan Harris creates an unforgettable cast of characters, depicting Georgia in the violent crucible of Reconstruction.
In the aftermath of so much turmoil, it is Isabelle who emerges as an unlikely leader, proffering a healing vision for the land and for the newly free citizens of Old Ox.
But when their secret is discovered, the resulting chaos unleashes convulsive repercussions on the entire community. The young men, recently returned from the war to the town of Old Ox, hold their trysts in the woods. Parallel to their story runs a forbidden romance between two Confederate soldiers. Prentiss and Landry, meanwhile, plan to save money for the journey north and a chance to reunite with their mother, who was sold away when they were boys. The Walkers, wracked by the loss of their only son to the war, hire the brothers to work their farm, hoping through an unexpected friendship to stanch their grief. In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry-freed by the Emancipation Proclamation-seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle. In the spirit of The Known World and The Underground Railroad, a profound debut about the unlikely bond between two freedmen who are brothers and the Georgia farmer whose alliance will alter their lives, and his, forever. It fully deserves a 5-star rating’ *****’Outstanding. a gripping and compelling novel that exposes flaws, mixed emotions and imperfect relationships, and yet it holds on with determination and hope. The comparisons with Colson Whitehead are justified’ *****’A staggering debut and a story that stays with you’ *****’Thought-provoking and moving. ‘ highly accomplished debut’ Sunday TimesReaders have been swept away by The Sweetness of Water:’Such a powerful, magnificent book I urge you to read it. But this sanctuary survives on a knife’s edge, and it isn’t long before the inhabitants of the nearby town of Old Ox react with fury at the alliances being formed only a few miles away. When the brothers begin to live and work on George’s farm, the tentative bonds of trust and union begin to blossom between the strangers. Forced to hide out in the woods near their former Georgia plantation, they’re soon discovered by the land’s owner, George Walker, a man still reeling from the loss of his son in the war. In the dying days of the American Civil War, newly freed brothers Landry and Prentiss find themselves cast into the world without a penny to their names. ‘A fine, lyrical novel, impressive in its complex interweaving of the grand and the intimate, of the personal and political’ ObserverĪn extraordinary novel of life after slavery for readers of WASHINGTON BLACK, THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD and DAYS WITHOUT END.
**AN OBAMA SUMMER READING CHOICE AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**
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