The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris is the book club pick for the Bookstorians! The Civil War is at its end, George Walker has just received word that his son, a confederate soldier has died. Due to the Emancipation Proclamation, freed brothers, Prentiss and Landry are trying to find their way up North to hopefully find their mother who was sold years before. They find themselves on George’s property and George hires them to help him work the land. They soon develop a close bond that will help them in the times to come. A discovered forbidden love leads to a cruel murder that threatens to tear the town apart.

This book is one of the most poignant, yet beautiful books that I have read this year so far. The style of writing is unique and once I was about fifty pages in, it flowed perfectly. Since this book takes place at the end of the Civil War readers will see the defeat but the seemingly endless pride of the South. Just because those who were enslaved were freed doesn’t mean things miraculously changed overnight. Newly freed Black Americans had to be careful just as much as before Emancipation. Particularly in the South, returning soldiers were angry about them stealing their jobs–we have heard this before. As they say, history repeats itself. The racism and cruelty will pull at readers’ heartstrings, but the way of thinking is evident that we in the present day still have a long way to go.

At first, I thought this story would be pretty straightforward but there were some surprising twists. Many of the characters took me by surprise. Once I got halfway through the book, the pace was relentless and I could not put the book down. I am still blown away that this is a debut novel and I can’t wait to see what else this author will write next. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.