Cool Water by Dianne Warren
Harper Collins, Toronto, 2010
From my TBR pile, this novel won the Governor General’s Prize for Fiction in 2010 and was long listed for the Giller Prize.
The novel takes place in Juliet, a small town on the edge of the Great Sand Hills of Saskatchewan. Cool Water tells overlapping stories of a day in the lives many of the towns inhabitants. It reminds me a bit of Olive Kitteridge.
The characters are unpretentious, their stories are quiet and most are unaware of how they entwine, interlock and deeply affect each other. Warren writing is spare and understated, very evocative of place. I would like to read more of her work.
I’m really looking forward to this one, and haven’t heard a single discouraging comment whilst I wait!
Cool Water is lovely. I hope you enjoy it!
I really enjoyed this book! I look forward to more from her.
Glad to hear you like this one. I would like to find more of her writings, maybe even her plays.
I absolutely LOVED this book – one of the best of 2011. So glad you also enjoyed Warren’s beautiful, understated prose. Such a lovely surprise for me when I read it last year. I wish more people would discover it!
It’s hard for readers in the US to discover Canadian (or any other international) authors unless their books are published and promoted here. Hopefully book blogs like yours will help to change that!
Gavin, thanks everyone for the lovely comments on my book. FYI, Cool Water will be released in the US in July under the title Juliet in August (Amy Einhorn Books).
Thanks for leaving a comment. I’m glad to hear Cool Water is being published in the US.
What a lovely and concise review.
Thanks, Jenner!
Great review. Thanks for reminding me that I need to read this!
You are welcome, Vasilly. I hope you are having a wonderful time over the holidays.