The Sweetness of Water

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This may be a marriage of Steinbeck and Larry McMurtry (in a good way) and I enjoyed it immensely. I loved the setting off after the Civil War, while people get adjusted to a new reality--the planation owners grappling with what to do next, the freedmen not any more certain where to go and what to do. Then there is George Walker, independent of the question, a singular man who just does what he wants. Some inevitable plot points, but plenty of pleasant and unexpected ones as well. When I think of a good book, this one will spring to mind.

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The cakes sizzled-bubbles opening and closing again like a fish struggling for air above the water's surface.

Their mother would say that Landry had once been full, and then halved, until he was inevitably left in so many bits she could not piece together the boy she'd once called her own.

"...the way they were crying and carrying on I wasn't sure if it was in praise of their freedom or at the plight of what their freedom entails."

The unknown led only to more clearings, more sunlight on the other end, and so it dawned on him that there was less to fear than he'd imagined, which was maybe a truth he'd long wished to believe--that all danger carried the faint trace of comfort, all wrongs the hint of what may be right.