THE SWEETNESS OF WATER

Nathan Harris HACHETTE, $32.99

Longlisted for the Booker Prize, Nathan Harris’ debut novel somehow renders the brutality of slavery and its aftermath into something lyrical and uplifting. Set in Georgia when the embers of the Civil War are barely cold, the story centres around George Walker, who has always held his slave-owning neighbours in deep contempt, and is the subject of suspicion as a result. When he finds two emancipated slaves camping on his land, he invites them to work for him and live in his barn. Laundry has been so badly beaten by his former owner he’s been rendered mute, but he and his brother Prentiss are dreaming of a journey to the north and life as free men. When the townsfolk of Old Ox discover the eccentric Walker and his wife Isabelle are sharing their lives with the pair, the cloud over the Walkers only darkens. And it breaks entirely when Landry witnesses something he shouldn’t, humiliating the son of a prominent local. Harris tells this story with great compassion for Landry, Prentiss, George and Isabelle.

CLAIRE SUTHERLAND VERDICT: Moving