Breathing Water - Paperback

by T. Greenwood (Author)

Startling and fresh. . .ripe with originality. --San Diego Union-Tribune

Three years after leaving Lake Gormlaith, Vermont, Effie Greer is coming home. The unspoiled lake, surrounded by dense woods and patches of wild blueberries, is the place where she spent idyllic childhood summers at her grandparents' cottage. And it's where Effie's tempestuous relationship with her college boyfriend, Max, culminated in a tragedy she can never forget.

Effie had hoped to save Max from his troubled past, and in the process became his victim. Since then, she's wandered from one city to another, living like a fugitive. But now Max is gone, and as Effie paints and restores the ramshackle cottage, she forms new bonds--with an old school friend, with her widowed grandmother, and with Devin, an artist and carpenter summering nearby. Slowly, she's discovering a resilience and tenderness she didn't know she possessed, and--buoyed by the lake's cool, forgiving waters--she may even learn to save herself.

Wrenching yet ultimately uplifting, here is a novel of survival, hope, and absolution from a writer of extraordinary insight and depth.

"Greenwood is a writer of subtle strength." -Publishers Weekly

Praise For T. Greenwood's Breathing Water

"A poignant, clear-eyed novel. . .filled with careful poetic description." --The New York Times Book Review

"A vivid, somberly engaging book." --Larry McMurtry

"Greenwood sensitively and painstakingly unravels her protagonist's self-loathing and replaces it with a graceful dignity." --Publishers Weekly

Author Biography

T. Greenwood is the author of eleven critically acclaimed novels. She has received numerous grants for her writing, including a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship and a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council. She lives with her family in San Diego, California, where she teaches creative writing, studies photography, and continues to write. Her website is www.tgreenwood.com.