Water is the first novella of Boyne’s The Elements. It’s another book I read for Novellas in November.
Vanessa Carvin arrives on a small, sparsely populated island off the coast of Ireland. The first thing she does is change her name to Willow Hale and cut off almost all her hair. Is she in hiding? we wonder.
She is in her 50s and has been married more than half her life. Yet, her thoughts of her husband are angry. Has she fled an abusive marriage?
Slowly, as she leads a quiet life, we learn what has happened. We learn fairly quickly that one of her daughters, Emma, has died but not the circumstances. Her other daughter isn’t taking her calls.
Delicately, mostly keeping herself to herself, she interacts with the islanders, and slowly, we find out why she’s there and what troubles her.
This is a masterful novella, looking into the heart of a deeply troubled woman. It pulls you along and ends with a measure of hope. It’s lovely.
