Stillwater [Paperback]

William F. Weld (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2003

At the heart of this beautifully rendered novel is the story of fifteen-year-old Jamieson, a farm boy who finds first love with the unforgettable, dreamy Hannah. At the same time, life as he knows it is unraveling around him--his town and four neighboring towns will soon be flooded to create a huge reservoir.
In a world facing obliteration, some citizens take refuge in whiskey or denial, some give in to despair, some preach hypocrisy, and others decide to turn a profit on their fellow citizens' misfortunes. As the seasons turn during the towns' final year, events spin out of control. It is Hannah, finally, who opens Jamieson's eyes to wider possibilities and helps him taste a measure of revenge on the men who sold out the valley towns.
A significant step forward in William Weld's already notable writing career, Stillwater illuminates nature's magnificence, man's inhumanity, people's courage, and the destiny of place that is characteristic of America.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Having written two political satires (Mackerel by Moonlight and Big Ugly), former Massachusetts governor Weld has changed gears in his third book. Readers will inhabit, for a few hours, a small town just west of Boston. It is 1938, and the community is about to be inundated by a river, dammed to create a reservoir to supply the big city. Fifteen-year-old Jamieson, orphaned but nurtured by his savvy and strong granny, witnesses not just the loss of his home but also the experience of first love, becoming a man, and seeing at first hand some of the most rotten aspects of men at work. His narrative captures the magic moments of a childhood spent outdoors, the emotional contours of adolescence, and the essence of small-town Massachusetts. It is written with disciplined affection unmarred by sentimentality. For every public library but especially those with Americana interests.
- Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From The New Yorker

The flooding of five towns in rural western Massachusetts for the creation of a reservoir is the turning point in this elegiac novel about devastation in the name of progress and the durability of childhood memories. In 1938, Jamieson Kooby is fifteen years old—still enough of a boy to roam the Swift River Valley looking for crows to shoot and catfish to behead, and just enough of a young man to fall in love with Hannah, a strange local farm girl who is a compendium of lore about regional historical figures she has known in her previous lives. Weld, a former governor of Massachusetts and the author of two previous, slighter novels, is eloquent about the stark mysteries of the New England landscape and sly about the shenanigans of the valley's not-so-simple denizens. When Betty Catlett, at a ceremony for the new Winsor Dam, objects to everyone's getting an early start on the buffet lunch even though a hurricane is coming—"I promised Mr. Winsor no one would eat a thing until he had finished speaking"—Jamieson's great uncle Ed says, "Eating deviled eggs don't make much noise."
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (August 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156027232
• ISBN-13: 978-0156027236
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,509,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Phenominal work of prose!, December 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Stillwater: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is one of the best books I have read in a long, long time. The descriptions of the time, place and characters are haunting. Although I have finished the book some time ago, it remains in my mind.
Beautiful and sensitive! Maybe one of my all-time favorites!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a beautiful book, March 2, 2005

By 

A. August (Needham, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stillwater (Paperback)

This is a short, lovely novel about the drowning of the Swift River Valley in Massachusetts in 1938 to create the Quabbin Reservoir. Seen through the eyes of the narrator, Jamieson, a 15-year-old boy, Weld describes the people and places of the valley during the idyllic last summer before the flooding. The book is not exciting, packed with thrills, or a potboiler mystery. It is a quiet, beautiful accounting of a slower time when people could make a living off their farms. However, local corruption among self-serving politicians and false ministers is an undercurrent that darkens the over-all glow of the story.
Read this book and enjoy living in the Valley in 1938.
I also recommend "Letting Swift River Go" by Jane Yolen, which describes the same event in a lovely children's book.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put this book down... Very quick read., January 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Stillwater: A Novel (Hardcover)

I liked this book very much. It is actually the first book in a year or so that I have been interrested enough to finish. It is a very quick read for those who don't have much time. It has corruption, mystery and the outdoors. It is also a sad tale about the end of a leagacy for a young man and how the flooding of the river valley affects him and the other people from the 3 small towns. Anyway, give it a try. It will surprise you. Also, what got me interrested in this was seeing the author on NBC morning show. If you go to look at the segment on CNBC... it might just interrest you too.