Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

Another 5 star read from John Boyne. Quite a short read compared to others but it packed a lot in. I found it hard to decide whether to feel sorry for or scathing of the main character. A hopeful ending that tied up the loose ends nicely but left you wondering what would be next. A really good read.

For such a short book, there is so much packed in! I didn’t realise this was the first of 4 novellas, so I am very much looking forward to the next three. An interesting story of a woman who has suffered heartbreak and loss. I really enjoyed reading about Willow/Vanessa and her relationships with the other characters in the book. Her story unfolds piece by piece and I really felt for her by the end. I’ve read and loved the author’s previous books and this was no exception. I can’t wait for the next one. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers.

Pub date 6/11/23

Between November 2023 and May 2025, John Boyne will publish four novellas: 🌊Water (Nov ’23), 🌳Earth (May ’24), 🔥Fire (Nov ’24), and 🌬️ Air (May ’25), which will then form the four-novella sequence The Elements.

🤜This 176 page novella is a compelling piece of writing which packs a punch...

🏝️A woman arrives on an island, changes her name and cuts all her hair off in an attempt to gain the anonymity she craves after the scathing judgement she has undeservedly received from society due to her husband's heinous crimes!

♀️You're not given all the details straight away, the story trickles out bit by bit. Considering it's a short story it still had a big emotional impact on me and left me dwelling on it after I finished.

A man is committed of hideous crimes and this story give us a peek into the detrimental effect the fall-out of his crimes has on his innocent family.... It's cruel and unfair how many innocent women suffered at the hands of one man...but this book highlights the victims aren't just the ones who the crimes were committed against.
🙏 It also gives a wonderful example of the resilience of women even when they've been pushed to their very limits.

I very much look forward to reading the rest of the novellas in this series

This compelling book is the first in a quartet of novels by John Boyne about the elements — water, fire, earth and air — and the impact they have, the vital role they play in our lives. Water is there to quench our thirst and enliven our bodies, but it can also overwhelm and drown us.

“The elements – water, fire, earth, air – are our greatest friends, our animators. They feed us, warm us, give us life, and yet conspire to kill us at every juncture.”

Vanessa Carvin is a woman whose elder daughter drowned at sea, and is drowning in her own feelings. She retreats to a remote island, cuts her hair, and alters her identity. Here she will live simply, hermit-like, adrift from the trappings of her former life, and be known as Willow Hale instead.

She lives away from her husband and family, yet doesn’t reveal the real reason why they are estranged. Her new, free-spirited persona fails to conceal the fear of being recognised and rejected because her husband is a sexual predator whose publicly revealed activities destroyed their family and left a community devastated.

There are lighter moments when Willow is forced to interact with her new neighbours, especially during a quarrel over a cat who appears to have adopted her but belongs elsewhere. A faltering kind of trust and a different kind of love develop to replace the guilt and shame and accusations of complicity.

Stranded at first, she seeks to maintain contact with her youngest daughter. Theirs is a fragile relationship which begins to show signs of slowly mending. As does Vanessa/Willow while she grows in self-sufficiency and an awareness of who she really wants to be. Though there are tough times when she’s tempted to end it all.

A novella-length novel, this is a beautifully written, well-crafted, unforgettable story that lingers long after the final page is finished. It’s the second book I’ve read by John Boyne and I’m in awe of his ability to bring hurting, complex characters to life. Grateful thanks to Random House, UK, Transworld Publishers and NetGalley for the eARC.

The first thing Vanessa Carvin does when she arrives on the island is change her name. To the locals, she is Willow Hale, a solitary outsider escaping Dublin to live a hermetic existence in a small cottage, not a notorious woman on the run from her past.
But scandals follow like hunting dogs. And she has some questions of her own to answer. If her ex-husband is really the monster everyone says he is, then how complicit was she in his crimes?
Escaping her old life might seem like a good idea but the choices she has made throughout her marriage have consequences. Here, on the island, Vanessa must reflect on what she did - and did not do. Only then can she discover whether she is worthy of finding peace at all.

I’ve read a few John Boyne books, all of them excellent and this one is no different. Although a short book it’s beautifully written. It deals with lots of real issues which real people face every day. The characters are perfectly described and the story paced just right.

Vanessa Carvins - she arrived in a remote island, she changed her name to Willow Hale, and she cut all her hair. She's renting a run down cottage
She's running away from "something" and I'd prefer not to say more, except to warn that the story brings up a difficult issue to deal with. She's trying to justify whether she's guilty, whether she should be able to do more, whether she's blind that she couldn't see any signs.
It's the shortest that I have read from this author, it's just about 180 pages, and I read it in one sit pretty much. John Boyne is such a master of story teller you can feel the emotional struggle in the protagonist (as always).

I also just found out that this one is part of the planned quartet of stories about the elements - Water, Earth, Fire, Air. So I'm so looking forward for its next instalment.

I've loved John Boyne's previous books and this is no exception! I love how his writing helps you become fully immersed in not only the characters struggles but also the wider surroundings. Although 'Water' covers some dark and harrowing themes it also manages to be uplifting at times. I'm really pleased to hear this is part of a quartet and cant wait to read the next three parts.

I ADORED this book! 176 pages and it packs a massive punch. Boyne's writing style is so good and his language and pacing instantly had me hooked from the beginning.

Water follows the life of Vanessa Carvin, who chooses to live a hermitic life on an island off the coast of Galloway, after her husband's conviction of a horrid crime and her mental disarray in the proceeding 12 months. I liked how this story focuses on the after-effects of this woman's life, rather than it being a chronological narrative of the crime and trial etc.

Whilst she's always living in a perpetual state of guilt for a crime she didn't commit, but didn't recognise either, she relives some flashbacks of her husband but I liked how very little page time he actually got.

"It is imperative to find a woman to blame for a man's crime"

I feel like this is the crux of the story. How much blame is to be placed on someone close to a convicted child sexual abuser? How much does Vanessa blame herself for not seeing what was happening?

I felt like on every other page I was nodding my head in agreement with Boyne's representation of marriage, politics, media, and everyday life in the eyes of a woman who has finally realised her worth is not something second to her husband, but found it sad that such an act needed to be committed for her to see this.

We meet some characters she builds relationships with throughout her time on the isolated island, but these are here to further enhance the narrative of gossipy islanders who are quick to crucify those who do not fit into their norms and small way of life.

I loved the metaphor of the water. We are all made up of water. But water can take and can be a vicious element in nature. How all the characters are connected in some way by water (swimming, drowning, an island surrounded by it) is a beautiful extended metaphor that I particularly enjoyed.

I enjoyed this so much that I'll be buying a paperback copy for my shelf.

We meet Vanessa Carvin soon after her life has collapsed. Well into middle-age, Vanessa has been forced to leave her home on the Irish mainland. Having seen her entire reality turned upside down, she must now construct a new identity for herself on a nearby sparsely populated island. But what exactly has happened to her? How much is she to blame for the misfortune that has befallen her? How much do her new neighbours on the island really know about her past? Cab she ever truly escape?
A natural storyteller, John Boyne gradually reveals Vanessa's backstory gradually and with skill in this short, occasionally harrowing but very readable novel.

✨ 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 ✨

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Water
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): John Boyne
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 4.25/5

“𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺. 𝘞𝘦 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘣. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵. 𝘞𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴, 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴.”

🤍 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗮
🌸 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗱-𝗵𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴
🤍 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
🌸 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮, 𝘀𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲, 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝘂𝘁𝘆
🤍 𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗜𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱

Water is the first in a contemporary quarter penned by John Boyne and titled after the elements: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. Each novel focuses on a victim of trauma, providing a unique narrative that—if the others are anything like this one—could emotionally eviscerate a reader. Although each novella interconnects and overlaps with each other, they can each be read as standalones.

This book follows Willow Hale, who has moved to an isolated island and changed her name to escape her ex-husband’s crimes of abusing female children. Although the focus of this book is more on the fact that Willow’s ex-husband targeted their young daughter, Emma, who had walked into the water and drowned herself. Willow escapes to figure out whether she was blind to what was going on in her own home, or whether she’s inhumane for burying her head in the sand and allowing it to happen. Either way, she’s complicit.

The backdrop of the novella is Ireland, which is politically relevant due to the thematic explorations of religion and perceived female duty of a mother and wife during the 90s. It’s a short but extremely hard hitting novella which is extremely reflective and almost scornful in its tone towards the characters in the novel. Due to the nature of the subjects, this novella could be perceived as triggering, although it does focus on the emotional aftermath of Willow rather than the actual abuse that took place.

—Kayleigh🤍

Fifty-two year old Vanessa Carvin arrives on a small island off the Galway coast having fled from Dublin after her husband, Brendan, of twenty-eight years has been jailed. Brendan's hideous crimes have made national news and some think that Vanessa was complicit in that she knew but did nothing to stop her husband. Now on the island, she rents a rural cottage, shaves off her hair and renames herself Willow Hale in an attempt to distance herself from the world and the press. Willow is her middle name and Hale was her maiden name for twenty four years,

Willow's relationship with her younger daughter, Rebecca, is strained. They are in contact via text but Rebecca sometimes blocks her for a period of time. We soon learn that her eldest daughter, Emma, is dead and that Willow feels guilty about that.

This is a short but gripping novel as we share Willow's days on the island and her interaction with the locals. She tries to keep a low profile but inevitably gets into conversation with a few islanders while believing that her self-imposed anonymity is successful. She has a casual fling with a young islander and a comfortable friendship with the local Nigerian priest, Ifechi.

John Boyne has a great talent in writing a good story while immersing the reader into the setting with a good balance of plot and description alongside insightful writing that really conveys the character or situation, often with good humour. I was slightly irritated by his long rant about the twelve apostles and why they excluded women and their supposed thoughts about the women in their lives. It smacked of applying 21st century woke thinking to 1st century civilisation.

The book deals with some some difficult subjects such as sexual abuse and suicide but it is not dwelt on nor written about in detail so, while a trigger for some, I found it very readable and would commend the book to others.

With thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It is very difficult to review this book, partly because it is so small yet deals with so much. The narrative is told through the voice of Vanessa Carvin or should that be Willow Hale as she trys to piece the broken fragments of her life into a new and sustainable hole. Vanessa's charcter is so complex and her emotions which perform their own helter-skelter shine through. How much of the recent past is her fault, could she have changed the outcomes? Isolating herself on a remote Island off the coast of Ireland she struggles with thee thoughts whilst also manageing to carve out a place from which she can move forward.

I felt fully immersed not only in her struggle but also in the place where she undertook this struggle. Boyne so cleverly draws person place and time into a beautiful whole.

Absolutely stunning novella about one woman’s struggle to cope with a horrific situation. Imagine finding out that your husband has committed the worst crimes. She escapes to a small island where she changes her name and the way she looks, and questions her own guilt. Did she know, were there clues?
This is the first in a series of four, and I’m really excited to read about the other elements.

I loved this book, so moving and engrossing. The themes are dark but somehow the book is uplifting, this is John Boyne doing what he does best. I can't wait for the other three parts in the quartet.

Water - by John Boyne

The only disappointing thing about this book was it was over to soon. It is a short book more a novella and for some reason probably having read a number of John Boyne's novels I expected a more complex read.

Having said that I loved it and desperately wanted more.

Vanessa arrives on the small island off the coast of Ireland renting a fairly isolated cottage to be alone with her thoughts and to get away from the media storm following her husbands arrest and the fact that she is thought to be complicit in his crime. She hacks of her hair and changes her name to Willow, to avoid being recognised so she can mix with the islanders if she so wishes.

The story reveals what happened before she came on the island and the relationships she had with her husband and two daughters and the fallout from the consequences of the crime her husband committed.

This is a hard hitting story exploring the subjects of sexual abuse and suicide beautifully written as always.

I loved the character of Vanessa / Willow and her interaction with the islanders, the younger man she has an uncomplicated relationship with and the discussions with the RC priest. The discussion about "Bananas" the cat and his irritable bowel made me laugh out loud.

A great quick read which somehow still manages to pack a punch despite its size.

Another lovely book from John Boyne. A lyrical tale of a woman, Vanessa/Willow who escapes to a remote island after her world literally falls apart. I liked the way we only discover all of her back story later in the book. She discovers the freedom of living a totally different life changing her name and appearance in order to disappear and rediscover her sense of self.
Told with humour and as with previous books full of great characters. The ending was both uplifting and heartbreaking as both Vanessa and her daughter confront their truths and reconnect. It ends with such a sense of hope for rebuilding a life - whatever that looks like for her.

'Water' has an intriguing beginning that draws you right into the story and makes it compelling from the start. A woman arrives on a quiet Irish island and immediately changes her name and her appearance. It's clear she's running away from something, but what exactly? Over the rest of the novel Boyne gradually reveals it, and then allows his characters to look to the future.

The pacing is skilful - Boyne unveils our narrator's history at just the right speed, never so slow you get frustrated, but always slowly enough to keep you keen to keep reading to find out more. With a nice short length (I admire authors who don't feel the need to pad out a novel, a decision that nearly always makes a better book), I read it in two sittings without meaning to as the story carries you along nicely.

It's not a happy story and there are some very dark subject matters here - including suicide and sexual abuse, for those readers who prefer to avoid those topics. However despite that darkness, I wouldn't describe it as gloomy. Painful and moving yes, but not hopeless and never hysterical. There's an underlying theme of the way women are marginalised in a patriarchal society and the problems that causes both to individuals and to society as a whole.

The question the narrator - Vanessa/Hope - is asking herself is whether she is a victim or a villain, or something in between. Naturally, the reader ends up wrestling with this too - and may not be able to come up with an easy answer. It would potentially be a good book group choice for this reason as there is plenty to discuss, despite the shorter than average length (which in itself can be a good thing when finding books that time poor members can also get through).

Overall this is a well written and thought provoking book that should appeal to anyone who enjoys literary fiction (but just be aware of the content warnings mentioned above). It looks like the first in four novels themed around the elements, and going on the quality of this I'll certainly want to try the next one.

Fabulous read. Everything was spot on - the setting, plot, characters that popped off the page. First read from this author for me but I’ve since gone and started reading his back catalogue.

I've struggled with Mr Boyne's work before now simply because he always seems to write a book that brings up difficult issues. It always felt like he had to have a cause.

However I requested Water from Netgalley because I feel its always good to keep trying an author you've not read for a while - their style may change and your tastes may also have altered.

Water is the story of Vanessa Carvin (who calls herself Willow Hale). At the start of the book all you know is that she has arrived on a tiny island off the Atlantic coast. She is running away from some terrible scandal that has left one daughter dead and her husband in prison. I won't say more about the plot except to say that it is a difficult and disturbing issue to deal with.

I have never encountered this particular issue personally so I'd only be guessing if I said I wouldn't behave like Vanessa/Willow. No one can know (in any crisis) how they'd behave until it happens.

That said, John Boyne, deals sensitively with the matter and throws several twists into the story just to blindside you.

It was easy to read (if not digest) and so short it would only take most readers a couple of hours to finish. It doesn't delve deep enough into the subject nor does it reach any conclusions. It was an interesting short read that Boyne readers will most definitely appreciate and for those who have never read any of his work previously it would be a good introduction.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the advance review copy.

Vanessa travels to the island and becomes Willow. Changing her name and changing her life. Leaving behind a daughter who won't talk to her and an ex husband who has done something unthinkable. Is Willow complicit in his crimes? Should she have known? A quiet, isolated life will help her decide. It's not entirely quiet as she's joined by a wandering cat, an angry neighbour and her thoughtful son and a bundle of other islanders.

An interesting novella which definitely questions why women are often held accountable for the actions of men.