(Minor spoiler ahead.) When their son, against all odds, returns from the Civil War, it sets off a violent chain reaction that leaves our characters’ lives overturned, and exposes just how far their town still has to go. The story is about two brothers, recently freed from the institution of slavery, who find themselves in the woods of George and Isabel Walker, who are white. Fortunately, I was warned beforehand and was able to go into the reading experience without that errant expectation. Unfortunately, this is a significant mischaracterization.

It was one I was most eager to read, particularly because the cover blurb positioned it as a partially queer novel set during American reconstruction. I read The Sweetness of Water because it was longlisted for last year’s Booker Prize. Equal parts beauty and terror, as gripping as it is moving, The Sweetness of Water is an epic whose grandeur locates humanity and love amid the most harrowing circumstances. With candor and sympathy, debut novelist Nathan Harris creates an unforgettable cast of characters, depicting Georgia in the violent crucible of Reconstruction.

In the aftermath of so much turmoil, it is Isabelle who emerges as an unlikely leader, proffering a healing vision for the land and for the newly free citizens of Old Ox. But when their secret is discovered, the resulting chaos, including a murder, unleashes convulsive repercussions on the entire community. The young men, recently returned from the war to the town of Old Ox, hold their trysts in the woods.

Parallel to their story runs a forbidden romance between two Confederate soldiers. Prentiss and Landry, meanwhile, plan to save money for the journey north and a chance to reunite with their mother, who was sold away when they were boys.

The Walkers, wracked by the loss of their only son to the war, hire the brothers to work their farm, hoping through an unexpected friendship to stanch their grief. In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry-freed by the Emancipation Proclamation-seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle. In the spirit of The Known World and The Underground Railroad, a profound debut about the unlikely bond between two freedmen who are brothers and the Georgia farmer whose alliance will alter their lives, and his, forever.

Sweetness on the water