WATERWOMAN

A Novel of the Eastern Shore

"Pure as the waters of the pre-industrial Chesapeake . . . utterly convincing and beautifully sensual. You feel the shell cuts, the pull of the nets." -- BALTIMORE SUN

"A gripping story with an admirable, complex heroine . . . The love and rivalry between the sisters will strike a chord with teens."  -- BOOKLIST

"Lenore Hart's story of love and betrayal yields as many surprises as the sea itself." -- SOUTHERN LIVING

". . . reads like a Greek tragedy crossed with Peyton Place . . . Hart reaches surprising emotional depths with her exploration of sibling rivalry, familial commitment, and social taboos." -- PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY

". . . reminds me of Edith Wharton, who in Ethan Frome wrote of an individual trapped by circumstances . . . [and] the spare, chilling creation or rural isolation." -- ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

"Annie's strength carries the novel, without resorting to cloying moments or tear-jerking cliches." -- WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL

"[Her] skill as a novelist lies in the respect she has for the form and for the words themselves . . . Like the watermen that people her novel, Hart has learned the tools of her craft." -- Salisbury NC POST

"Annie tells her story in the hushed yet urgent voice of a sinner begging forgiveness . . . Hart throws in dramatic twists and turns that keep the reader voraciously turning the pages for more."  -- LUCE World Wide Web Clips

"A gripping story, colorful and sensuous and easy to read." -- Topeka CAPITAL-JOURNAL

". . . Hart creates a believable world where tragedy does not always equal hopelessness, a place where you don't always get what you want , but if you're strong, you find reasons to go on living anyway."  -- Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL

Tiny, remote Revels Island, a barrier island off the Eastern Shore, knows nothing of the partying, gin-soaked Roaring Twenties which grips the rest of the country. The Revels family depends on the coastal waters to make a living, and tragedy is always only a bad storm away. As Annie notes, "In order to live on the Shore, you need to understand that good weather always follows bad."

Even as a child, plain, boyish Annie Revels had everyone's role in life figured out. Everyone's, that is, except her own. Her mother was sickly and needed to be taken care of. Her little sister Rebecca was remarkably beautiful, where Annie was not. Her father was a waterman, a free-looking life Annie deeply envied and could've had, if only she'd been born a son.

But when her father dies, suddenly it falls to Annie to take his place aboard the oyster boat and support what's left of the family. Out there, though it came at a greater cost than imagined, she falls easily into the only life she thought she could ever really fit into: being a waterman. Until one day, out on the water, she meets Nathan . . .

About the Author

LENORE HART is the author of seven other novels, including ORDINARY SPRINGS, BECKY: THE LIFE AND LOVES OF BECKY THATCHER, and THE RAVEN'S BRIDE. She lives on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and currently teaches in the Wilkes University MA/MFA Creative Writing Program.