Love Like Water
Cover Blurb
She stole a look at the man in the driver's seat. Sometimes, Jay seemed as familiar as her own self. Other times he was as different as another language.Cathy arrives in Alice Springs from cattle country, looking for a new way to live. But new is a serious challenge for a girl who's sued to being measure by her actions, not her feelings. Feelings are slippery, like water. Hard to hold onto.
Jay is working for the local radio station, far from his own saltwater people, wary of this no-water country. He's searching for something, trying to survive.
Margie is a wild city girl, up for a good time, confronted by a world she's never known and a friend she can't always understand.
When lives collide at the heart of the country, no one stays unchanged.
What people are saying about LOVE LIKE WATER
Reviewers
"A lot of silly things are said about novels and art but I do think this book goes somewhere new. To begin with, as a male reader, I find it an unusually compelling portrait of a man. ...How many other white novelists are able to present Aboriginal Australia in the sort of depth and complexity this book does? This, truly, is a book about the meeting of two worlds."
Martin Flanagan, The Age, March 3rd 2007" LOVE LIKE WATER is like a breath of fresh air, a truly Australian original."
Marck Rubbo, Readings Books Newsletter, March 2007"The result is a compelling and intelligent fiction that because of its respect for realism will escape being tagged as either racist or apologist."
Margaret Wenham, Courier Mail, March 10 - 11 2007"Meme McDonald has beautifully illustrated the landscape and characters' relationships to one another. I would highly recommend LOVE LIKE WATER to anyone who cares enough to want an insight into some of the problems facing Australia.'
Natalie Crawford, Dymocks, Claremont, Perth for Bookseller & Publisher February 2007."There is a rawness about this fiction which keeps the reader enthralled to the end."
Jeff Prentice, Viewpoint, Autumn 2007"Meme Mc Donald weaves a story full of spirituality and friendship in a black and white world. ...A thoroughly enjoyable and challenging book..."
Nicola Philp, Viewpoint, Autumn 2007"The beautifully subtle LOVE LIKE WATER is a love story, but it is also about black-white relationships in Australia broadly."
Lorien Kaye, The Age, March 31 2007
Readers:
"Much discussion on racism was raised (in the book group), as well as the identity issues and the idea of home. Your sex scene was read out to the group - loved by all. Not a bad word was said about the book. Everyone loved the symbolism and the metaphors. Many people related to characters in the book. ...it was a beautifully crafted book - a joy to read."
"It's a real page turner. A remarkable achievement to create all those powerful and recognisable and believable characters, specially so as I have spent time in Alice Springs which is such a seething cooker of relationships and possibilities, and to make us
want to know what happens to them all. This sounds like a cliche but it is also a welcome and powerful and compassionate addition to the writing and reflections on black-white relations and interactions in this land of ours. I have lent it to a couple of people including a Dutch friend of mine for plane reading!""I mostly read at night when the baby goes to sleep, usually only for a short time since I seem to need all the sleep I can get at the moment. I have a young baby and in the wee hours of this morning she was unsettled after her feed and I was desperately searching for your book to read. It is so beautifully written - the images just off the page."
"Am now halfway through "Love Like Water" and just wanted to tell you how fabulous I think the love/sex scene at the end of Part 2 is. It's truly beautiful and evocative and one of the best I've ever read. So hard to do...fantastic!"
Years 11 & 12
See what they say about LOVE LIKE WATER in schools:
www.allenandunwin.com/Teaching/lovelikewater.asp
