“The Solace of Water” by Elizabeth Byler Younts is a tale of loss, grief, bitterness and racial division, but also of healing, forgiveness, unity and friendship.
Taking place in 1956, “The Solace of Water” tells the story of two families — the African American Evans family and the Amish Mullet family.
After facing the horrific drowning of her young son, Carver, Delilah Evans’ family is moving from Montgomery, Ala., to her husband Malachi’s hometown of Sinking Creek, Pa., where he will pastor the local African-American church. Casting blame on her daughter, Sparrow, for Carver’s death, Delilah cannot move past her grief or forgive Sparrow, which leads to Sparrow dealing with her own grief and guilt in a destructive manner.
Across the woods from their house lives Emma Mullet with her husband John and son Johnny. Even though John serves as a deacon in their Amish church, the Mullets are also a family with harsh secrets and painful circumstances.
As Sparrow turns to Emma for kindness, friendship and a sense of mothering, the two families’ lives become more and more intertwined. And as each woman’s paths grow darker and darker, the three must turn to each other for support.
Told alternately through the perspectives of Emma, Delilah and Sparrow, “The Solace of Water” is a deep, dark, revealing story that helps us see and acknowledge our own secrets and hurts. It also warns at the danger of secretive and divisive behavior.
This is a story filled with a number of themes, including finding a fresh start, blame, secrets, grief, consequences, bitterness, and accepting help from others; words are very dangerous and can clip one’s wings; hidden sins have very real and very deep consequences; the snake of burden; differences between people often lead to fear and judgment; how easy it is to have subtleties creep in on how we treat others; and the fear of pain of loss.
Water, as the title infers, is a major theme running throughout the story. The author relates water to everything, including describing one’s voice as either vapor or waterfall. It reflects the importance of it for the body, its necessity for seeds and plants to grow, its power to give and to take, the direction of it and its interconnectivity, and the impact of its lack (drought).
This novel does contain some serious topics, like unwanted and forced intimacy, and self-mutilation.
“The Solace of Water” is a deeply moving read — at times heavy and depressing, as each family faces some catastrophic and deeply impactful situations. But it causes us to stop and reflect our own lives, and the world around us — especially with today’s divisions. As Emma reflects: “Why did different cause such a reaction? If not laughter then judgment, and if not judgment then fear. Shouldn’t it cause us to seek something more valuable, like understanding? But fear and judgment were easier.”
Four stars out of five.
Thomas Nelson provided this complimentary copy for my honest, unbiased review.