On an island in the Great Massasauga Swamp-an area known as "The Waters" to the residents of
nearby Whiteheart Michigan-herbalist and eccentric Hermine "Herself" Zook has healed the local
women of their ailments for generations. As stubborn as her tonics are powerful Herself
inspires reverence and fear in the people of Whiteheart and even in her own three estranged
daughters. The youngest-the beautiful inscrutable and lazy Rose Thorn-has left her own
daughter eleven-year-old Dorothy "Donkey" Zook to grow up wild. Donkey spends her days
searching for truths in the lush landscape and in her math books waiting for her wayward
mother and longing for a father unaware that family secrets passionate love and violent men
will flood through the swamp and upend her idyllic childhood. Rage simmers below the surface of
this divided community and those on both sides of the divide have closed their doors against
the enemy. The only bridge across the waters is Rose Thorn. With a "ruthless and precise eye
for the details of the physical world" (Jane Smiley New York Times Book Review ) Bonnie Jo
Campbell presents an elegant antidote to the dark side of masculinity celebrating the
resilience of nature and the brutality and sweetness of rural life.
