The Watery Part of the World
Apr 26, 2011
Author: Michael Parker
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Algonquin Books (April 26, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-1565126824
A slim novel packed with interesting plot. The book separates itself into two distinct stories with a common thread holding them together.
The first is the story of Theodosia Burr Alston, Arron Burr's daughter who was on a ship to her father in the early 1800's when it was overrun by pirates. She survived for years on the barrier islands off of South Carolina by acting crazy. She was "touched by the hand of God" and left alone. But it was a hard existence, fraught with danger if anyone decided suddenly she was sane.
The second part of the story (and the chapters do switch back and forth) is set in the 1970's when two sisters and a black man., decedents of Theodosia and her slave, are nearly the only people left living on an island as everyone slowly moves to the mainland. The sisters are determined to stay where they've lived all their lives......and determined to keep Woodrow with them - regardless of cost.
You become very engrossed in the characters lives and actions, past and present, - this is a book I highly recommend.
