The Watersmith, the debut novel by Yance Wyatt, is one of the strangest and most original books I’ve read in a long time.
When we meet alcoholic inventor and layabout Jack Calloway, his life is starting to fall apart at the seams. Both of his parents have just died, and his rebellious son JJ has assaulted a schoolteacher and been suspended from school.
His eternally patient wife Jolene suggests Jack and JJ spend some father-and-son time together at their Smoky Mountain cabin. They soon discover an old moonshine still in the woods and repair it. But tragedy strikes when Jolene attempts to sabotage the first batch and is horribly burned. Jack blames JJ and sends him away.
Years later, Jolene is diagnosed with a post-traumatic dementia that responds only to scent. Desperate, Jack begins distilling her favourite flowers to bring her memories back. But as the familiar scents lose their hold and her memories start to fade, Jack will distil anything to reach her.
It’s hard to ascribe a genre to this book. It has elements of literary fiction, horror and science fiction. It’s an absorbing and imaginative, and at times, shocking journey through one man’s grief – and be warned, there’s a lot of it – as he desperately tries to make amends with his family and find some sort of redemption.
The Watersmith is unsettling and thought-provoking and raises some big questions. Is there life after death? How far would you go for love? It’s the kind of novel that would spark some great discussions and make an excellent book club pick.
It’s available from August 11.
Thank you to @yancewyatt for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.