Acclaimed by The Boston Book Review as "incantatory .

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poetic and magical," Water from the Well is a novel forged in the soul of community.

Set in rural Arkansas, it opens in 1919 with a cow-pasture ball game between the whites of Sugars Springs and the coloreds of neighboring Bethel, a game that shakes the town's delicate racial balance.

One year later, a cyclone visits destruction on black and white, female and male, villain and victim.

Rich with image and sparkling with humor and compassion, Water from the Well is a story of ex-slaves, displaced Yankees, rapists, healers, small-town sheriffs led into temptation, and the rich weave of a century of community history.

"Boldly idiosyncratic and folksy .

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characters and their stories emerge with the intimacy of personal memory.

" -- Richard Bausch, The New York Times Book Review; "Entertaining, touching, celebratory, and absolutely pitch-perfect.