Our August Book Club novel, Water by bestselling author John Boyne, is a masterfully reflective story about one woman coming to terms with her past and finding a new path forward.
Although slim in size, this story is not slim in content, a deeply emotive tale that concisely covers the relationships between women and men, religion, abuse, politicians, community and complicity.
Boyne is a master of dialogue as evident in his 2006 multi-award-winning book The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, and has again created a complex and memorable story imbued with humour and sadness.
Tragedy and scandal stalk a mother of two teenage girls, who self-exiles on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. Changing her name and cutting off her long hair, is not enough however to escape a catastrophe of horrific proportions. The beauty and isolation of the remote location forces her to examine her role in the crimes committed by her husband – interspersed with humorous interactions with the curious locals in this tiny island community.
This is a powerful and haunting story, told with tenderness and a sense of humour shining through the narrative.
Water is the first of four interlinked novellas by Boyne, the theme of these being the four elements… Water, Earth, Air, and Fire.
Synopsis: Water
The first thing Vanessa Carvin does when she arrives on the island is change her name. To the locals, she is Willow Hale, a solitary outsider escaping Dublin to live a hermetic existence in a small cottage, not a notorious woman on the run from her past. But scandals follow like hunting dogs. And she has some questions of her own to answer. If her ex-husband is really the monster everyone says he is, then how complicit was she in his crimes?
Escaping her old life might seem like a good idea but the choices she has made throughout her marriage have consequences. Here, on the island, Vanessa must reflect on what she did – and did not do. Only then can she discover whether she is worthy of finding peace at all.
