The Sweetness of Water

In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry—freed by the Emancipation Proclamation—seek 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, including a murder, 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.

• The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris
• Published: Little, Brown & Company on June 15, 2021
• Genre: Historical fiction
• Listening length: 12 hours 8 minutes
• Dates listened: 12.3.25 – 12.10.25
• Format: Audiobook
• Narrator: William DeMeritt
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• ⭐⭐⭐
• 🌶🌶

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I’ve fallen incredibly behind on blogging and reading!! The holidays are so busy and draining sometimes. It’s been a minute since I finished this book, so doubtful that I can do this entry much justice.

I admit that I went into this book with really high expectations. How could I not? Seeing how it was long-listed for the 2021 Booker Prize and is recommended by Barack Obama and Oprah. But sadly, I was really disappointed in it. I dived into it thinking it would be focused on the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War, but it wasn’t. Not…really. Yes, there are two main characters that you are introduced to pretty quickly, who are now freed slaves. I would have been interested in seeing how the brothers managed to acclimate themselves to a changed world, but instead, the book seemed a bit more focused on the struggles of the white Walker family.

I was also not a huge fan of Harris’s writing style. I’m glad that I listened to the audiobook vs actually reading it, because even the audiobook had a hard time holding my interest at times. He uses a lot of what I think of as “word salad”, and it kind of felt like it just went on and on. I wish I had enjoyed this book more than I did. Sometimes I wonder when I don’t enjoy a book that seems to be raved about, maybe it’s me? Maybe I wasn’t in the right headspace, or whatever, to appreciate it the way that others may have. Ultimately, I ended the book thinking…it was a decent book, but was it a story that needed to be told? Not in my opinion.