The many different elements in this novel - including
environmentalists, dowsing, and family loyalty - converge in a
smooth and natural flow. Narrator Scottie - who notes that his
childhood nickname has stuck long past appropriateness - is an
attorney who lives in Landaff, Vt., with his wife, Laura, whose
family is known for being strange, and for being able to locate
water. Laura's confrontational sister, Patience, has particularly
strong abilities and has also located oil, lost children, and
missing valuables. Scottie and Laura have a young daughter,
Miranda, who appears to be developing as quite a dowser as well,
and Patience is eager, perhaps too eager, to take over her
education. Scottie is representing a ski resort called Powder Peak
in its bid for expansion, a project which has brought him into
opposition with a local environmentalist state senator, who also
happens to be engaged to Patience. This family connection might
seem too facile, but Bohjalian does an impressive job painting
Landaff as "the sort of town where everyone is indeed related to
everyone, and the town meeting that occurs on the first Tuesday of
every March is as much a family reunion as it is an exercise in
legislative self-determination." In the past, Bohjalian (Past the
Bleachers, 1992, etc.) has faltered on plot points, relying on
cliche to bring things together, but here his tempered voice finds
its narrative niche, whether describing the peaceful setting with
rumblings of discontent just under the surface, the circus-like
arena of environmental politics (those opposing expansion form a
group called "Citizens Opposed to the Powder Peak Environmental
Rape"), or Scottie's own internal struggles. Subtlety is key. When
Scottie and fourth-grader Miranda spot catamounts on the mountain,
he knows that expansion must be stopped and abruptly switches
sides. Bohjalian slips in information about catamounts, dowsing, Y
rods and the like without ever sounding preachy or falling out of
Scottie's cohesive voice. Buoyant and brilliant. (Kirkus Reviews)
Vermont is drying up. The normally lush, green countryside is in
the grip of the worst drought in years: stunted cornstalks rasp in
the hot July breeze, parched vegetable gardens wither and die, the
Chittenden River shrinks to a trickle, and the drilling trucks are
booked solid as one by one the wells give out. Patience Avery,
known nationwide as a gifted "water witch," is having a busy
summer, too. Using the tools of the dowser's trade -- divining
sticks, metal rods, bobbers, and pendulums -- she can locate, among
other things, aquifers deep within the earth. In the midst of this
crisis, Scottie Winston lobbies for permits to expand Powder Peak,
a local ski area that's his law firm's principal client. As part of
the expansion, the resort seeks to draw water for snowmaking from
the beleaguered Chittenden, despite opposition from
environmentalists who fear that the already weakened river will be
damaged beyond repair.
What ensues in Chris Bohjalian's fourth novel is a struggle between
conservation and development, rugged tradition versus inevitable
progress. But it is also a tale of the clash between science and
mystery, a chronicle of one man's transformation from cynic to
believer. Vivid with the texture of New England ways, alive with
characters both quirky and real, informed by the ongoing, real-life
battles between environmentalism and economic expansion in Vermont,
Water Witches is a story of ineffable forces, tenuous balances,
"and perhaps something about our abilities as a people to heal and
forgive and to love."
General
Imprint: |
University Press of New England
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
February 1995 |
First published: |
February 1995 |
Authors: |
Chris Bohjalian
|
Dimensions: |
216 x 140 x 30mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
351 |
Edition: |
New |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-87451-687-6 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-87451-687-0 |
Barcode: |
9780874516876 |
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