drive by rec: Body of Water

[deborah]

Last night, because I needed something to read, I grabbed a copy of Sarah Dooley's Body of Water off the shelf at school. I expected it merely to be an enjoyable time filler, but I was floored by how much I enjoyed it.

Basic plot: Pagan 12-year-old (from a Pagan family) is made homeless when her trailer burns down. Character growth ensues.

I read so much speculative fiction for work that realistic fiction has had an disproportionate ability to impress me lately. Even without that, however, I suspect I would have found beautiful: a lyrical tear-jerker that required about half a box of tissues to get through. The Pagan threads are neither exclusionary and offputting to a non-pagan, nor are they pasted on; they are vital to the story's thematic development.

Ah, I see that Kirkus gave the book a star, which surprises me not at all.

Comments

[owlectomy]

That sounds like something I should pick up!

I have been thinking ever since reading Karen Healey's The Shattering, which I loved, that there should be more pagans in realistic fiction. I mean, there is a dearth of YA books that take religious belief seriously and aren't by Melody Carlson, but I don't think I've ever read a book with a pagan character where "And her magic actually works!" wasn't part of the storyline, for better or worse.