Water
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  • Published: 14 November 2023
  • ISBN: 9780857529817
  • Imprint: Doubleday
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 176
  • RRP: $29.99

Water

A haunting, confronting novel from the author of The Heart’s Invisible Furies

Formats & editions
Hardback
14 Nov 2023
EBook
2 Nov 2023
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From internationally bestselling author John Boyne, a masterfully reflective story about one woman coming to terms with the demons of her past and finding a new path forward.

The first thing Vanessa Carvin does when she arrives on the island is change her name. To the locals, she is Willow Hale, a solitary outsider escaping Dublin to live a hermetic existence in a small cottage, not a notorious woman on the run from her past.

But scandals follow like hunting dogs. And she has some questions of her own to answer. If her ex-husband is really the monster everyone says he is, then how complicit was she in his crimes?

Escaping her old life might seem like a good idea but the choices she has made throughout her marriage have consequences. Here, on the island, Vanessa must reflect on what she did - and did not do. Only then can she discover whether she is worthy of finding peace at all.
  • Published: 14 November 2023
  • ISBN: 9780857529817
  • Imprint: Doubleday
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 176
  • RRP: $29.99
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About the author

John Boyne

John Boyne was born in Ireland in 1971. He is the author of eleven novels for adults, six for younger readers and a collection of short stories. Perhaps best known for his 2006 multi-award-winning book The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, John’s other novels, notably The Absolutist and A History of Loneliness, have been widely praised and are international bestsellers. Most recently, The Heart's Invisible Furies was a Richard & Judy Bookclub word-of-mouth bestseller, and A Ladder to the Sky was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award in association with Listowel Writers’ Week.

His novels are published in over fifty languages.

portrait photo of John Boyne

Also by John Boyne

Fire
The Heart's Invisible Furies
Earth
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
The Dog Who Danced on the Moon
All The Broken Places
The Echo Chamber
See all

Praise for Water

His quietest novel... but one just as powerful as his larger canvases

Business Post

An intriguing investigation of contemporary trauma... [a] short but powerful book

Guardian

Boyne does not put a foot wrong in this masterly novella

Mail on Sunday

A perceptive, moving exploration of guilt, grief and complicity

Sunday Express

Boyne not only opens up conversations, he writes beautifully and sensitively

Woman&Home

Subtle, intelligent and humane

Sunday Telegraph
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