By Michael Tidemann
Every once in a great while, a novel comes along that draws you into a different world you don’t want to leave.
That’s the case of ‘The Waters’ by Bonnie Jo Campbell. Campbell’s deftly woven Michigan backcountry saga of a family of women who are natural healers carries us to a time and a place where nearly anything is
possible.
Hermine “Herself” Zook is the daughter of Baba Rose, also a healer. Herself raised her three daughters in Rose Cottage, situated on an island accessible only by the bridge that can only be lowered on the island side, virtually and symbolically limiting access to men whom the women seem as destructive and incapable of understanding Herself’s
healing arts.
Herself’s daughters all take on healing roles in one way or another – Prim, an attorney who aggressively defends indigent clients; Molly, a nurse practitioner who has chosen modern medicine over her mother’s
herbal remedies; and Rose Thorn, who “was able to ease an endemic self-loathing” and whose beauty is both a blessing and a curse.
Much of the story is told through the eyes of Rose Thorn’s daughter Dorothy, more commonly known as Donkey, a mathematically brilliant homeschooled child who reaches nearly six feet at age 11.
While Herself dedicates herself to healing, her healing arts are the subject of ire of some of the men in the surrounding town of Whiteheart, with the exception of Titus Clay, who loves Rose Thorn with all his heart,
and with the hearty endorsement of the rest of Whiteheart.
However, insidious forces threaten Herself and her daughters and their way of life. Who is Prim’s real father? Who is Donkey’s real father? The answers to those questions would be spoilers, so let’s leave it at that.
In the end, the men of Whiteheart find redemption in a fashion when they come to the island to help Rose Thorn with the birth of her second daughter, named Rose Moon by Donkey. And while Titus is tragically
separated from Rose Thorn by his untimely match with Lorena, in the end he also finds redemption in a ritual snake dance when he becomes one with the island and the woman who have inhabited it.
This is a meticulously researched novel, and impossible to put down.
Every once in a great while, a novel comes along that draws you into a different world you don’t want to leave.
That’s the case of ‘The Waters’ by Bonnie Jo Campbell. Campbell’s deftly woven Michigan backcountry saga of a family of women who are natural healers carries us to a time and a place where nearly anything is
possible.
Hermine “Herself” Zook is the daughter of Baba Rose, also a healer. Herself raised her three daughters in Rose Cottage, situated on an island accessible only by the bridge that can only be lowered on the island side, virtually and symbolically limiting access to men whom the women seem as destructive and incapable of understanding Herself’s
healing arts.
Herself’s daughters all take on healing roles in one way or another – Prim, an attorney who aggressively defends indigent clients; Molly, a nurse practitioner who has chosen modern medicine over her mother’s
herbal remedies; and Rose Thorn, who “was able to ease an endemic self-loathing” and whose beauty is both a blessing and a curse.
Much of the story is told through the eyes of Rose Thorn’s daughter Dorothy, more commonly known as Donkey, a mathematically brilliant homeschooled child who reaches nearly six feet at age 11.
While Herself dedicates herself to healing, her healing arts are the subject of ire of some of the men in the surrounding town of Whiteheart, with the exception of Titus Clay, who loves Rose Thorn with all his heart,
and with the hearty endorsement of the rest of Whiteheart.
However, insidious forces threaten Herself and her daughters and their way of life. Who is Prim’s real father? Who is Donkey’s real father? The answers to those questions would be spoilers, so let’s leave it at that.
In the end, the men of Whiteheart find redemption in a fashion when they come to the island to help Rose Thorn with the birth of her second daughter, named Rose Moon by Donkey. And while Titus is tragically
separated from Rose Thorn by his untimely match with Lorena, in the end he also finds redemption in a ritual snake dance when he becomes one with the island and the woman who have inhabited it.
This is a meticulously researched novel, and impossible to put down.
