num_pages: 160
description: The Pulitzer Prize-nominated novel from the author of the New York Times bestselling novel We Were the MulvaneysJoyce Carol Oates has taken a shocking story that has become an American myth and, from it, has created a novel of electrifying power and illumination. Kelly Kelleher is an idealistic, twenty-six-year-old “good girl” when she meets the Senator at a Fourth of July party. In a brilliantly woven narrative, we enter her past and her present, her mind and her body as she is fatally attracted to this older man, this hero, this soon-to-be-lover. Kelly becomes the very embodiment of the vulnerable, romantic dreams of bright and brave women, drawn to the power that certain men command—at a party that takes on the quality of a surreal nightmare; in a tragic car ride that we hope against hope will not end as we know it must end. One of the acknowledged masters of American fiction, Joyce Carol Oates has written a bold tour de force that parts the black water to reveal the profoundest depths of human truth.
language: English
title: Black Water
titlecomplete: Black Water
characters: Carl Spader, The Senator, Buffy St. John, Madelyn Kelleher, Ray Annick, Kelly Kelleher, Artie Kelleher
genres: American, Historical Fiction, Novella, Historical, Literary Fiction, Novels, Literature, The United States Of America, Fiction, Contemporary
ratings_count: 8293
places: Maine
awards: awardedAt: 725875200000
name: Pulitzer Prize
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 694252800000
name: National Book Critics Circle Award
category: Fiction
publisher: Plume Book