num_pages: 368
description: 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. In the waning days of the Civil War brothers Prentiss and Landryfreed by the Emancipation Proclamationseek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife Isabelle. 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. 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. Parallel to their story runs a forbidden romance between two Confederate soldiers. The young men recently returned from the war to the town of Old Ox hold their trysts in the woods. But when their secret is discovered the resulting chaos unleashes convulsive repercussions on the entire community. 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. With candor and sympathy debut novelist Nathan Harris creates an unforgettable cast of characters depicting Georgia in the violent crucible of Reconstruction. 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.
language: English
title: The Sweetness of Water
publisher: Little, Brown and Company