The Waters
By Bonnie Jo Campbell
W.W. Norton & Company, October 2024, 416pp.

The Short of It:

A bit too much romance for me but brimming with strong, independent women.

The Rest of It:

On an island in the Great Massasauga Swamp–an area known as “The Waters” to the residents of nearby Whiteheart, Michigan–herbalist and eccentric Hermine “Herself” Zook has healed the local women of their ailments for generations. As stubborn as her tonics are powerful, Herself inspires reverence and fear in the people of Whiteheart, and even in her own three estranged daughters. The youngest–the beautiful, inscrutable, and lazy Rose Thorn–has left her own daughter, eleven-year-old Dorothy “Donkey” Zook, to grow up wild. – the publisher

The Waters is an interesting read. Never in my life would I have picked it up on my own. Why? Seemed a little flowery to me at first glance. A little too “woo-woo” with the lotions and potions. You know what I mean? My book club chose it for November so I found a copy and hunkered down.

Not long after starting it, I was sucked into the lives of these women. Herself, she literally calls herself this, has been providing medicinal potions to the town of Whiteheart for as long as people can remember. She lives on the island, with her girls, mainly Rose Thorn, another odd name. The island is controlled by a drawbridge of sorts to keep the men out. This becomes important later.

So here she is, Herself and Rose Thorn, living by themselves. The other siblings, Primrose and Molly have gotten themselves off the island and live fairly normal lives but their lives continue to be intertwined with their family on the island because for one reason or another, they are always called back.

Rose Thorn. The name is odd but appropriate. Beautiful like a rose but thorny, stubborn. She does what she wants. She seems to be the only thing, besides the lotions and potions tying the island back to Whiteheart. But Rose has her own demons. Raped and impregnated, she leaves the island only to return when her daughter makes her appearance. Her daughter, Donkey, AKA Dorothy. This family and their crazy names!

Donkey is a force to be reckoned with. She’s inherited some of her grandma’s talent with lotions and potions. She understands the value of those medicinal tonics, the waters, so to speak. She’s also desperate for a relationship with the father figures around her. The identity of her own father is buried in secrets.

As these women find their place on this island and outside of it, the rest of the town falls under the spell of these women and cannot stay away. They gather just outside of the island, eager to be around Rose Thorn and her desire for love becomes complicated when her soulmate finds that the obligation to his farm, outweighs actual desire.

There were times while reading this that I groaned over the romantic aspects of this novel. Was Rose Thorn really such a hot commodity that the Whiteheart men just fell to her feet even when attached to their own families? Yes, and no. They are most definitely drawn to her but loyalties come into play and it all culminates in an odd and frustrating conclusion.

I really liked walking along with Donkey, but there were times where I just wanted to shake some sense into her. All the talk about the poisonous plants, the snakes, and the like. A child growing up on an island like that is going to encounter some interesting things, and she does.

Overall, this was a very different read for me. I am not much into lotions and potions and the woo woo benefits that such things can bring, but this is a strong circle of women. I wish there was less of the romantic stuff and more of the family stuff. That would have made this a perfect read.

Recommend. Should be good for discussion.

Source: Borrowed
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