The Water Dancers: A Novel

By Terry Gamble

Book Overview

A stunning new voice in literary fiction makes her remarkable debut in a moving, lush, and brilliantly rendered tale of the walls between wealth and poverty, love and duty, and a rich evocation of the years following America's greatest trial and triumph. Terry Gamble's The Water Dancers is the story of Rachel Winnapee, a poverty-stricken, sixteen-year-old Native American orphan who goes to work at the opulent March family summer home on the shores of Lake Michigan in the post-World War II summer of 1945. A young woman with no delusions about her place in this world of privilege, she quickly adapts to her role as an obedient servant expected to remain silent and unobtrusive while catering to her employers' wishes. Surrounded by a wealth she never imagined, she strives to remain invisible, until she is assigned the task of caring for the family's tragically scarred, emotionally shattered young scion, Woody March. A veteran who lost a leg in the Pacific conflict, Woody is haunted by his injuries and battlefield experiences -- and by the loss of the older brother he emulated -- and now desires only relief from his twin agonies of pain and memory. He recognizes a kindred spirit in this gentle and mysterious child-woman who is so unlike anyone he has ever known yet who understands the depths of human suffering. In Rachel's eyes, Woody is a noble, tortured prince, and her fervent wish to help ease his torment soon metamorphoses into more intense and irrevocable feelings of love and need. But if Rachel is a young woman with no future, Woody's has already been mapped out in intricate detail: as the last surviving March son, he is to run a successful banking business, marry the well-bred Elizabeth, and raise a family who will carry on the March name with distinction. Yet the obligations he never questioned prior to the war are becoming increasingly odious to him -- especially now, as he feels himself becoming irresistibly drawn to Rachel in ways no one else in his world would understand or tolerate. As the relationship between two lost and damaged souls intensifies, they move toward the one pivotal event that will alter their lives in ways both heartbreaking and profound. An unsparing portrayal of the conflicts of race, culture, and class that lays bare the complex passions and deepest yearnings of the human heart, Terry Gamble's The Water Dancers possesses a lyrical, strong, and assured artistry and heralds the arrival of a major new American novelist.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060542667
• ISBN13: 9780060542665
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

mesmerized by Water Dancers

I was spellbound by this book- the depth & originality of the characters, the nuance in which their drama unfolds, the richness of the different worlds & settings they inhabit. A great read!!

A reader from Vermont

I loved this book. It is spare and poetic and packs a real punch. I could feel and see and smell the setting (Beck's Point) in Michigan, and felt that the characters were real and compelling. It was hard to let them go. I bought three other copies to give to friends. This love story is set among the richest AND the poorest in American society--their interactions and assumptions about each other, and Rachel and Woody's attempts to bridge the gap are wonderfully rendered. I hope Terry Gamble writes another novel soon. I'll be first in line at the bookstore.

Water Dancers is a great read

In this thoroughly enjoyable first novel, Terry Gamble tells the story of a young Native American girl, Rachel Winneppee. Rachel find herself in the employment of a wealthy family and becomes the caretaker of the family's son Woody who has lost a leg in World War II. Their relationship, which forms the core of the book's plotline is rendered with great care and originality. The story takes some unexpected turns as the lives of Woody and Rachel intertwine. At one point the story takes a deeply sorrowful turn, but by the end a hopeful and forward looking resolution is reached. Read this book for the engrossing story, but as importantly, look for the character development. These are people you care about. Several of the minor characters, such as Ada and Bliss, two older women who look after Rachel are delightfullydrawn and help keep the book balanced between its somewhat somber central theme and more lighthearted moments.It is obvious that Gamble is at home with language; one only wishes that some of the descriptions of the northern Michigan land and seascapes were allowed to be a little longer. The writing is, however, elegant and spare, often poetic, especially when probing the inner lives of the people who inhabit the book. This is a wonderful read.

A haunting rendition of class and culture

With sparse but image-rich prose, this book follows the lives of two "tribes" -- one wealthy and white, one poor and Native American -- through two generations. Full of loss, longing, love and redemption, this book hung with me long after I (too-quickly) finished it. The place is vividly rendered, the characters believeable. Though sometimes brushing the edge of sentimentality, Gamble is never preachy, and her rendering of class is right on.

Woody's pain blends with her sad understanding

In Terry Gamble's novel, The Water Dancers, a poor orphan teen Native American comes to work in a family summer home in post-war summer 1945, and finds her life changed through her assignment to the family's emotionally shattered son Woody, who has lost a leg in the war. Woody's pain blends with her sad understanding to bring about an uncertain romance which will change both their lives.