The Sweetness of Water (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel

For Readers of Washington Black, the Underground Railroad and Days Without End.

In the Dying Days of the American Civil War, Newly Freed Brothers Landry and Prentiss Find Themselves Cast Into the World Without a Penny to Their Names. Forced to Hide Out in the Woods Near Their Former Georgia Plantation, They're Soon Discovered by the Land's Owner, George Walker, a Man Still Reeling From the Loss of His Son in the War.

When the Brothers Begin to Live and Work on George's Farm, the Tentative Bonds of Trust and Union Begin to Blossom Between the Strangers. But This Sanctuary Survives on a Knife's Edge, and It Isn't Long Before the Inhabitants of the Nearby Town of Old Ox React With Fury at the Alliances Being Formed Only a Few Miles Away . . .

"Harris' Lucid Prose and Vivid Characterization Illustrate a Community at War With Itself, Poisoned by Pride and Mired in Racial and Sexual Bigotry. . . Harris' First Novel Is an Aching Chronicle of Loss, Cruelty, and Love in the Wake of Community Devastation"
- Booklist, Starred Review

"To Open Nathan Harris's First Novel Is to Enter a Trance. I Can't Think of Any Other Book Out There Quite Like It. The Richness of His Language and the Exquisite Details of the Lives He Creates Produce a Kind of Waking Dream, Equally Lyrical and Threatening "
- Luis Alberto Urrea