You know she's led a fairly privileged life but that something awful has happened that attracted a lot of press attention. You also learn that she's no longer with her husband, her older daughter is dead and her younger daughter doesn't really talk to her.

In the epilogue to The Water Book, Alok Jha writes of water: It has been our wellspring of stories and culture, the source of creation and death; it has shaped our language and politics and been at the core of how we built civilization. This heavy-duty science is leavened by a first person account of the author’s experience on a scientific cruise to Antarctica. This provides the starting point of descriptions of ice formation (although the book is a bit thin on glaciology), the oceanic circulation system and the existence of life at extremes of temperature, and so forth. Vanessa seems to find some comfort in the small island where people mostly keep to themselves. We begin to find out more about Vanessa’s past and what she is escaping from.The book delves into the role of water in human societies. Man’s ability to form urban civilizations is crucially dependent on his capacity to exploit and control the sources of water. All civilizations and major towns took root on the shores of a large water body such as a river, lake or sea. The ancient Greek geographer Pausanius remarked that no city can call itself by that name if it can’t hoist an ornamental fountain in the centre of the city as a potent indicator of man’s control over water. This precious liquid was available in plenty for most of human history. However, with rapid urbanization and scarcity of supplies, water has assumed the role of a commodity that is no longer cheap. It is almost certain that most of the people living now would witness an eventuality in their lives in which water will be difficult to come by. This imperative calls for conservation of water. The book introduces the concept of water footprint for the material we consume in our daily lives. Originally formulated by Arjen Hoekstra, this idea links human consumption to the amount of water extracted from earth to produce that material. For example, the beef burger you eat was produced at the cost of about 1000 liters of water. The section on biosphere presents a gloomy picture of excessive water use without practical alleviation measures immediately at hand. 70% of the extracted water is utilized for agriculture and 20% for industry. With no path-breaking technology round the corner, consumption is sure to surge higher as the developing world gets industrialized fast. This prophecy of doom, however, is helpful only to create an image of pessimism. U.S. power plants are said to use 500 billion cubic meters of water for cooling alone in a year. Most of the power plants recycle cooling water for its processes and only a small amount of fresh water is required to be introduced into the closed system as makeup water. A lot of UN’s predictions about water scarcity in the coming decades are included, which are pessimistic as usual. Jha has included all issues of concern in the world in this discussion on water. Global warming and water conservation are only two among them. Here again, the observations proposed in favour of global warming may cause a smile on climate-skeptics’ faces. Traces of warming are undoubtedly seen in the Arctic and West Antarctic Peninsula, whereas ice cover has increased on other locations and the atmosphere in fact cooled a bit over the decades. So much for a place of peace. It has done nothing but remind her of the evil she is trying to escape – how much damage is caused by men who consider women as here for their convenience. What is water? The famous actor Leonardo Di Caprio was once quoted as saying the following about water... Brimming with ideas and unexpected correlations, Water is far more than a biography of its nominal subject . . . The book stands as a compelling history of civilization itself.” — The Wall Street Journal Book Review On any given morning you might shower, make coffee, flush your toilet and think nothing of the role that water plays at each moment.

This is an amazing debut novel. It's a beautifully narrated, intelligently crafted piece of love that goes deep, then goes deeper. You should read this book. Let's hear it for Caleb Azumah Nelson, also known as the future' - Benjamin Zephaniah, award-winning poet, playwright and novelist Later, when I too am alone in my single bed, I wonder whether God is looking over me and, if he is, what punishment he will send my way next. A dead daughter. A husband in jail. My family’s reputation shattered. An entire country convinced that I was complicit in all of it. What more can he do to hurt me?” Giulio Boccaletti makes a strikingly original and persuasive case that the history of human civilization can be understood as a never-ending struggle over water. Boccaletti’s command of a vast range of material, across time and space, is astonishing.” —Nicholas Lemann, Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor of Journalism, Columbia University. An incredible and intense read …… I could not put this one down for the life of me,and I’m excited for what’s to come next in Earth.She has interesting theological and philosophical discussions with the young Nigerian priest; she observes the interactions between the townspeople. Two of those she meets, she feels she could trust with the recent events in her life that brought her here. The exact circumstances, both of her husband’s incarceration, and her daughter’s death, are gradually revealed. A novel of utter beauty, The Covenant of Water is worthy of all praise in its depiction of medical ingenuity and family love; it is epic and eye-opening, the sort of story that only a singular mind like Abraham Verghese's could have woven.' - Imbolo Mbue This is the first in a interlinked novel quartet named after the elements……Water,Earth,Fire and Air.

Open Water is a very touching and heartfelt book, passionately written, which brings London to life in a painterly, emotive way. I love its musical richness and espousal of the power of the arts - pictures, sounds, movement' - Diana Evans, Women's Prize shortlisted author of Ordinary People It’s about more than the water just being there’ ... swimmers at Hampstead Heath ponds. Photograph: Hollie Fernando/Getty Images Vanessa Carvin is a woman trying to escape her past life in Dublin and has rented a sparsely furnished cottage, with no wifi or television, on an island off the Galway coast. As soon as she arrives on the island she changes her name and shaves her hair to a blunt crop. is the story of Vanessa Carvin, a woman in her fifties who relocates from Dublin to an isolated island off Galway and changes her name to Willow Hale. There is intrigue right away. Why has she left Dublin? Is she hiding something? Why has she changed her name? What is she fleeing from? He is breathless for the life he is entering into and I hope that he will not know pain or betrayal or disappointment, but of course he will, because he's alive and that's the price we pay"What makes this fascinating book stand out from other accounts of how water has shaped human history across the ages is Boccaletti’s brilliant and nuanced treatment of the political and economic dimensions of water’s role in history. The breadth and substance of the narrative are outstanding. The book is a tour de force!” —Michael Hanemann, Julie A. Wrigley Chair in Sustainability, Arizona State John Boyne is a master of the mind. He can put himself in someone else’s shoes, whether it’s a soldier in WW1 or, in All the Broken Places, an 80-year-old woman whose little brother was the protagonist of the The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. His characters are always real and always memorable. This 54-year-old woman is no exception – he understands her mind, her strengths and her weaknesses. Erudite and engrossing...the book combines literary flair with deep historical insight... One of its many strengths is its vivid characterisation of people and places, not least those of Lisbon life high and low' - The Times Mr. Gooley misses little in his paean to Earth’s most abundant resource. . . . He starts small, at a mud puddle watching ripples fan out from a pebble drop, and ends big, in the frigid reaches of the Arctic Sea. Along the way he asks and answers many questions. If you like water, as I do, you will learn a lot.” The Wall Street Journal

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. From wild swimming in Sussex to wayfinding off Oman, via the icy mysteries of the Arctic, Tristan Gooley draws on his own pioneering adventures to reveal the secrets of ponds, puddles, rivers, oceans and more, and gives you the skills to read water. Excellent. Boccaletti takes the reader on a polyglot tour de force that shows how the flow of human history, economics and geopolitics is utterly connected to the constant blue thread of our need for water. Water A Biography poses challenging questions about how best to secure our water future and, as a result, ensure our very existence.” —Dominic Waughray, Managing Director, World Economic Forum

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Op het eiland gaat alles wel heel ouderwets. Alsof er eigenlijk na 1950 niks veranderd is of zo. Willow komt er tot rust. Ze heeft deze periode nodig om te verwerken wat er is gebeurd. Ze stelt zich de vraag of ze écht van niks wist of dat ze er onbewust blind voor was. Dat ze niet zag wat er misschien wel gewoon onder haar eigen dak gebeurde. Dat haar man niet die persoon kon zijn. Maakt haar dat medeplichtig, zoals de rest van de wereld denkt? And you'll be from Dublin, I suppose," she continues, employing a tense that I'm not sure exists in the language. Vanessa Carvin is a well-drawn, complex character who intrigued me from the get-go. Boyne is very skilled at creating memorable characters and imbuing their stories with equal parts sadness and humour. As always, his dialogue is fantastic.