The Water Book

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Water focuses on Vanessa, AKA Willow, a woman trying to escape grief and trauma by moving to an isolated Irish island. Water is a novella by award-winning, best-selling Irish author, John Boyne. Not long after her husband Brendan is put in Midlands Prison, and with many people believing she was complicit in his crimes, Vanessa Garvin flees Dublin and goes into self-imposed exile in an austere cottage on an island off the Galway coast. She shaves her head and uses a version of her maiden name: Willow Hale. As humanity strays across planetary boundaries, Boccaletti’s political biography of water is essential reading. This bold and ambitious saga offers important lessons and instils humility in the reader, both of which we need as we face the dangers of increasing pressure on nature, climate change, and corrosive inequality.” —Rachel Kyte, Dean, The Fletcher School, Tufts University Penso anche che sarebbe stato ideale inserire un maggior numero di grafici nel testo, specialmente per spiegare alcuni concetti più complessi. This is the first in a interlinked novel quartet named after the elements……Water,Earth,Fire and Air.

The whole business of the twelve apostles has always bothered me, the hard-nosed maleness of their clique, the decision from the start to exclude women from their number. Most became saints, I think, but did that prevent them from leering at the women who served their food, or making vulgar remarks about girls they noticed on the streets?” It was after her mother died that Catherine Kelly learned the healing power of water. Following instincts that she did not yet understand, she moved to live alone by the sea in County Mayo, on the west coast of Ireland, and over the next few years began to heal. “It’s an ebb and flow that water gives us that allows us to connect with ourselves. It’s an allowing,” she says.This is a book for the layperson, but a book, definitely, for a layperson who doesn’t shy away from the technical. (The chemistry, at times, had me floundering, as did some of the geology). But, while I did find myself getting lost occasionally, and I would’ve liked more on the cultural significance of water—this book was still a good read, mainly because I learnt so much from it. Ice acting as a metal? The fact that marine life produces half the oxygen in the atmosphere through photosynthesis? That newly formed sea ice is naturally salty, but (because the salt drains away gradually into the water below) it eventually becomes tasteless, while the water below becomes extra salty? About the Mpemba Effect, and how it was ‘discovered’? I read. I look out the window. I think about the morning when the Gardaí arrived at our front door in Terenure. I tell myself not to think about the morning when the Gardaí arrived at our front door in Terenure. And, in this way, the hours pass and, before I know it, it’s almost lunchtime and I can walk down to the village.” Extraordinary for its monumental scope and piercing insightfulness, Water: A Biography richly enlarges our understanding of our relationship to—and fundamental reliance on—the most elemental substance on earth. Follow the Wim Hof method and accustom yourself to a blast of unmixed cold at the end of your shower. Start with 10 seconds and build up to a minute of exposure. If the full-body experience is more than you can manage, Kelly says that even splashing your face with cold water has benefits: the cold stimulates the vagus nerve and triggers an “anti-inflammatory response that helps with anxiety and depression. It improves circulation and releases endorphins.” Go to the coast

And you'll be from Dublin, I suppose," she continues, employing a tense that I'm not sure exists in the language. This is one of the most ambitious books that I’ve read in a long time. It is both deep and broad.”— NPR, All ThingsConsidered Water has also shaped the world we live in. Whether it is by gently carving the Grand Canyon over millennia, or in shaping how civilisations were built; we have settled our cities along rivers and coasts. Scientific studies show how we feel calmer and more relaxed when next to water. We holiday by the seas and lakes. Yet one day soon wars may be fought over access to water. Open Water is a very touching and heartfelt book, passionately written, which brings London to life in a painterly, emotive way. I love its musical richness and espousal of the power of the arts - pictures, sounds, movement' - Diana Evans, Women's Prize shortlisted author of Ordinary People What makes this fascinating book stand out from other accounts of how water has shaped human history across the ages is Boccaletti’s brilliant and nuanced treatment of the political and economic dimensions of water’s role in history. The breadth and substance of the narrative are outstanding. The book is a tour de force!” —Michael Hanemann, Julie A. Wrigley Chair in Sustainability, Arizona StateThis was such an interesting read on so many levels, I would really loved to have read this as a book club read as think there is so much discussion in this one. I spent a lot of time thinking about this one long after I finished it. It can be a good place to catch ones thoughts, away from the world. You can talk to God, talk to yourself, or talk to no one at all.” The stories of Damiao de Gois and Luis de Camoes capture the extraordinary wonders that awaited Europeans on their arrival in India and China, the challenges these marvels presented to longstanding beliefs, and the vast conspiracy to silence the questions these posed about the nature of history and of human life. Throughout the book, we return again and again to a voyage Jha took to the Antarctic on a scientific research vessel. This strand is sometimes successful, sometimes less so, but the cryosphere section is where it best comes to life, as Jha steps on ice-floes, travels across a blinding ice landscape in an amphibious buggy, and visits the huts left by a 1912 scientific expedition led by Douglas Mawson. There is science, but also Adélie penguins, ferocious katabatic winds and plenty of ice (the Antarctic is covered by 10,000tn tons of snow and ice). Other characters are left as blank as the landscape: no one is identified beyond “scientists”, or “the expedition leader”, leaving the penguins to add some colour and personality. Perhaps that’s forgivable, as the book is about the science of water, but it can – ironically – make for a dry read that often feels dutiful rather than captivating. She goes on to wonder if some of the apostles may have lured girls away or taken women without their permission. She gets angrier and angrier as she looks at the pictures.

She’s not a believer, which is a recurring theme in Boyne’s stories, but she befriends the local priest, because he’s an interesting man to talk to. Ifechi, born in Nigeria, invites Willow to use the church as a place of peace as it’s mostly empty during the day. I wish Alok Jha had been my science teacher at school he has an amazing ability to explain complicated sciencey stuff and making sense, I could have grown up to be a scientist. The quirks and habits and secrets of good old H2O were crying out to have a book written about them. That said, it had to be written by the right person… Fortunately, the job went to Tristan Gooley… His tales recount wisdom gathered on the ground (literally), often by trial and error, and his joy at discovering something almost makes you feel you did the work yourself… The book doesn’t just cover the rural sections of the waterfront: urban dwellers get a look-in too. “ The SpectatorAlternare la parte più puramente scientifica a quello che in fin dei conti si rivela essere un racconto di scoperta e di avventura, è stata sicuramente una scelta intelligente da parte dell'autore.

Erudite and engrossing...the book combines literary flair with deep historical insight... One of its many strengths is its vivid characterisation of people and places, not least those of Lisbon life high and low' - The Times Among my most popular books are The Heart’s Invisible Furies, A Ladder to the Sky and My Brother’s Name is Jessica. Boccaletti brilliantly traces the history of how human civilization has been shaped by its attempts to control water for economic and societal benefit. As the impacts of climate change become clearer, policymakers the world over would be well-served to recognize water as a public good, respecting the importance of this invaluable, shared resource to our very survival.” —Sally Jewell, U.S. Secretary of the Interior 2013-17 We talked with Gary White about the inspiration behind and process of writing The Worth of Water, his book with co-author and Water.org Co-founder Matt Damon. What inspired you and Matt to write a book?

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Water is the story of Vanessa Carvin, a middle-aged woman, who arrives under an assumed name on a tiny island off the Irish coast. Her husband is in prison after committing monstrous crimes, in which she may or may not have been complicit. The tragic fallout has shattered her world. Before she can move on, she must consider her culpability, work through her guilt and grief, and find a path to redemption. Open Water is the most mesmerising read. Caleb Azumah Nelson writes voice like a young Baldwin, placing himself both inside and outside the world he describes. Open Water drew me in, hypnotised me and left me, a few hours later, both devastated and a little high. This is the kind of novel which doesn't let go.' - Jan Carson, award-winning author of The Fire Starters The first thing Vanessa Carvin does when she arrives on the island is change her name.But scandals follow like hunting dogs. A novel of utter beauty, The Covenant of Water is worthy of all praise in its depiction of medical ingenuity and family love; it is epic and eye-opening, the sort of story that only a singular mind like Abraham Verghese's could have woven.' - Imbolo Mbue