TROUBLE THE WATER
What People are Saying
Overview
Read an Excerpt
Buy the Book
Reader's Guide/Book Club Questions

THE SPIRIT OF SWEETGRASS
What People are Saying
Overview and Origin
Read an Excerpt
Buy the Book
Reader's Guide/Book Club Questions
Gullah/Sweetgrass links
Recent Progress in Gullah/Geechee and sweetgrass culture

RECOMMENDATIONS
A Partial List of Authors/Books I Adore

books - Trouble the Water

Overview of Trouble the Water

A Lowcountry tale about hope, healing, and the mysterious powers of sisterhood.

Set in the South Carolina Sea Islands, Nicole Seitz's second novel once again delves into the mysteries surrounding life and death, following the stories of a capricious widow and two middle-aged sisters. When their lives collide in a secluded Gullah community, each woman will discover what threatens to destroy her. One will seek healing in the face of dying, another will be forced to re-examine all that she knows to be true, and one woman will choose to keep hidden the long-buried ghosts of her past--just a little while longer.

Narrated in three distinct voices, Trouble the Water is all at once heart-wrenching and humorous, giving glimpses of island life and unique Gullah/Geechee culture. The title is based on the lyrics of an African-American spiritual about healing and freedom, "Wade in the Water," and on John 5:4 (KJV):

For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

"This is another thing I know for a fact: a woman can't be an island, not really. No, it's the touching we do in other people's lives that matters when all is said and done. The silly things we do for ourselves--shiny new cars and jobs and money--they don't mean a hill of beans. Honor taught me that. My soul sisters on this island taught me that. And this is the story of true sisterhood. It's the story of Honor, come and gone, and how one flawed woman worked miracles in this mixed-up world."