the sweetness of water nathan harris review

Harris is a writer of great lyricism and power – he can lend even laundry emotional significance: “A bleary glance out the window revealed his mother dipping his pants into the boiling water of the copper washing kettle… He thought he would have to go pant-less about his home, until he remembered the drawer full of clothes across the room, a bounty to a man who had held on so dearly, to so little, for so long. Of Mice and Men seems to be an obvious model for the dynamic between the brothers: Landry was beaten so badly and frequently while enslaved that he has stopped speaking, but looms over Prentiss, his quick-witted brother. Harris writes in intelligent, down-to-earth prose and shows a keen understanding of his characters, and while the plot leads to several tragic events, there’s a tinge of hope at the end. At mealtimes, Isabelle observes that her dinner table hosts “an assortment of damaged bodies collected together to gain sustenance”. The friendship between Walker and the two freed men nonetheless helps him live again as he and his stoic wife Isabelle grieve the loss of their only son in the war. Equal parts beauty and terror, as gripping as it is moving, The Sweetness of Water is an epic whose grandeur locates humanity and love amid the most harrowing circumstances.Elif Shafak on The Island of Missing Trees: ‘If I worry about how my books will be received, I can’t write’ 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, including a murder, 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 stunning debut' ( Oprah Daily) about the unlikely bond between two freedmen who are brothers and the Georgia farmer whose alliance will alter their lives, and his, forever - from 'a storyteller with bountiful insight and assurance' ( Kirkus)

The sweetness of water nathan harris review