The Sweetness of Water (Oprah’s Book Club) Audiobook By Nathan Harris cover art

The Sweetness of Water (Oprah’s Book Club)

A Novel

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The Sweetness of Water (Oprah’s Book Club)

By: Nathan Harris
Narrated by: William DeMeritt
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An Instant New York Times bestseller / An Oprah’s Book Club Pick

In the spirit of The Known World and The Underground Railroad, an award-winning “miraculous debut” (Washington Post) 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 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.

One of President Obama's Favorite Books of 2021

Winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence

Winner of the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction

Winner of the Writers’ League of Texas Book Award for Fiction

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize

Shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize

Shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award

Longlisted for the 2022 Carnegie Medal for Excellence

Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

Longlisted for the Crook’s Corner Book Prize

A Best Book of the Year: Oprah Daily, NPR, Washington Post, Time, Boston Globe, Smithsonian, Chicago Public Library, BookBrowse, and the Oregonian

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

A July 2021 Indie Next Pick

 Small Town & Rural Historical Fiction United States Heartfelt Southern African American Genre Fiction World Literature Literature & Fiction Feel-Good Southern Historical Fiction

Critic reviews

“Harris’s debut novel is remarkable; that he’s only 29 is miraculous. His prose is burnished with an antique patina that evokes the mid-19th century. And he explores this liminal moment in our history with extraordinary sensitivity to the range of responses from Black and White Americans contending with a revolutionary ideal of personhood... All of this is drawn with gorgeous fidelity to these cautious characters, struggling to remake the world, or at least this little patch of it... Harris stacks the timbers of this plot deliberately, and the moment a spark alights, the whole structure begins to burn hot... What’s most impressive about Harris’s novel is how he attends to the lives of these peculiar people while capturing the tectonic tensions at play in the American South.”—Ron Charles, Washington Post
“Beautiful... An instant classic... This book is profound.”—Jenna Bush Hager, Wall Street Journal
“This debut novel astonished us as much for its wise, lyrical voice as for its dense realization of a fictional small town in the American South at a rarely written-about moment, the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. We were incredibly impressed by the way it probes themes of trans-historical importance—about race, sexuality, violence, and grief—through meticulously-drawn characters and a patient examination of their relationships.”—Booker Prize committee
“As I read this masterful novel I kept thinking—this young 29-year-old is a first-time author, so how did he do this?... As the best writers can do, Nathan takes us back in time, and helps us to feel we are right there with Prentiss and Landry as they get their first taste of freedom. I rooted for them, and feared for them too."—Oprah Winfrey, Oprah Daily
Beautiful Storytelling • Well-developed Characters • Compelling Plot • Historical Perspective • Emotional Depth

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almost stopped in the first page, turned off by the plain language. but it got much better as it went.

enjoyed it thoroughly

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This novel kept me listening way passed my bedtime. I just couldn't put it down. So many threads to follow. I really enjoyed the story, The reader and the presentation.

Sweetness of Water

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I’m an avid reader. I love historical fiction. I often pair the audio book with the paper pages of a tangible book. However, this narrator did such a wonderful job, I kept going back to the audio book.

The writing and the characters are beautiful. The story had everything one wants in a great novel. I was sad when it was over. Highly recommend.

Great writing. Deep and thoughtful characters.

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I was hoping for a somewhat happier ending. However, the characters were interesting and always a bit surprising. The story was unusual.

The writing was like poetry.

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I’ve read reviews calling this book “profound”. Yeah not so much. But this is a very well written story, especially for a debut novel, with well-developed characters and a plot that doesn’t stall out. The driving force here is the character Isabelle, who starts out as a blank canvas, and by the end she is entirely and beautifully fleshed-out. She triumphs over the events that have occurred around her, despite the obstacles and setbacks, making for a very satisfying and hopeful ending.

A solid, interesting story

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