the water keeper  <p><b>a riveting new story of heroism, heartache, and the power of love to heal all wounds.</b></p> <p>murphy shepherd is a man with many secrets. he lives alone on an island, tending the grounds of a church with no parishioners, and he’s dedicated his life to rescuing those in peril. but as he mourns the loss of his mentor and friend, murph himself may be more lost than he realizes.</p> <p>when he pulls a beautiful woman named summer out of florida’s intracoastal waterway, murph’s mission to lay his mentor to rest at the end of the world takes a dangerous turn. drawn to summer, and desperate to find her missing daughter, murph is pulled deeper and deeper into the dark and dangerous world of modern-day slavery.</p> <p>with help from some unexpected new friends, including a faithful labrador he plucks from the ocean and an ex-convict named clay, murph must race against the clock to locate the girl before he is consumed by the secrets of his past - and the ghosts who tried to bury them.</p> <p>with charles martin’s trademark lyricism and poignant prose, <i>the water keeper</i> is at once a tender love story and a heartrending search for freedom.</p> <p>"i’m telling you, it’s an action-packed, classic charles martin romance novel unlike anything i’ve ever read. and remember...the day you pick up this book is the day you become temporarily unavailable to the world." (charlie martin, son of charles martin)</p> <p>"charles martin fans rejoice, because he’s done it again...a multilayered story woven together with grace and redemption, and packed tight with tension and achingly real characters." (lauren denton, <i>usa today</i> best-selling author of <i>the hideaway</i>)</p> <p>"in <i>the water keeper</i> charles martin crafts a compelling story with skill and sensitivity. open the pages of this book and you’ll enter the world of characters caught up in a real-life drama that grips the heart. as with all of charles’s books you never finish it - you continue to live there in your own imagination. current fans won’t be disappointed; new readers will understand why charles martin is on the short list of contemporary authors i recommend above all others." (robert whitlow, best-selling author)</p> <p>the first story in a new series from charles martin.</p> <p>full-length novel (c. 110,000 words).</p> <p>also by charles martin: <i>the mountain between us</i>, <i>send down the rain</i>, <i>long way gone</i>, <i>when crickets cry.</i></p>