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For fans of Tell Me Everything and Heartwood, Where the Water Meets the Sky is the story of a brave young woman seeking wholeness and love in the untamed forests of Michigan's upper peninsula—and answers about a fire that took away everything.
On a night in January, on the Garden Peninsula of Michigan, a farmhouse burns to the ground. A young child makes it out and flees into the woods with a book of matches in her hand.
Ten years later, Abby, a lover of birds and the natural world, returns to Garden, to the woods and lakes and farms and fisheries of her childhood, to assist her uncle on an environmental study of trees. Her best friend, Brew, invites her to a party where she meets a troubled girl named Seda, on the run from her abusive ex. Abby sets out to protect Seda and introduces her to an abandoned cabin that becomes a sanctuary for them both. Here, Abby begins to process her unrequited feelings for Brew while also discovering the person she is becoming. She wants more for her life, a hunger both spiritual and physical, and seeks to understand the trauma of her childhood that took her mother from her. Abby cares deeply for the people and flora and fauna around her and identifies with the wounds of the environment. She is desperate to remember what happened the night of the fire and as the summer of 1996 unfolds, Abby will be forced to reckon with the truth.
Perfect for fans of the lush and tender nature writing of Helen Macdonald and Richard Powers, Where the Water Meets the Sky is a coming-of-age novel that expertly delves into the connection between our perception of ourselves and our natural environs. It is a paean to the vast and beautiful wildscape around us and to the power of community and the wisdom of love.
"For readers of Wild Dark Shore and What Kind of Paradise, this love letter to the UP is a character-driven and introspective novel full of rich descriptions of the natural world." —Booklist (starred review)
"The novel abounds in descriptions of the natural world and bravely asserts a slow, meditative narrative pace. The land, and the animals on it, become central characters in the story, effecting change in Abby as she confronts some uncomfortable realities… Devotion to the natural world intensifies this tale of memory and forgiveness." —Kirkus Reviews
"Diane Les Becquets' Where the Water Meets the Sky is a beautifully written, evocative novel of love, loss, and how we protect our hearts when the unthinkable happens. I loved moving through the wild landscape of Michigan's upper peninsula as Les Becquets' elegantly constructed narrative brought me to the surprising and emotionally satisfying end." —Tara Conklin, bestselling author of The Last Romantics
"Rare is the novel that evokes the natural world with such precision, intimacy, and lushness. Michigan's UP is brought to magnificent, finely rendered life in Les Becquets's big-hearted novel. A deeply-affecting, beautiful book that reminds us, in these uncertain times, of what truly matters." —Rae Meadows, award-winning author of Winterland and I Will Send Rain
This information about Where the Water Meets the Sky was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Nathaniel Boesch
Diane Les Becquets is a Professor of English and a faculty member at Southern New Hampshire University's MFA Program in Fiction and Nonfiction. In addition to teaching creative writing, she has worked as a medical journalist; an archaeology assistant; a marketing consultant; a sand and gravel dispatcher; a copywriter; and a lifeguard, and is also an avid outdoorswoman. A native of Nashville, she spent almost fourteen years living in a small Colorado ranching town before moving to New Hampshire.
Author Interview
Link to Diane Les Becquets's Website
Name Pronunciation
Diane Les Becquets: Diane ley-Beck
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