Water, Carry Me [Paperback]

Thomas Moran (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2001

From the award-winning author of The Man in the Box and The World I Made for Her comes the breathtaking story of a young woman's betrayal, set against the beauty and violence of a divided Ireland.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Entrapment is a recurring theme in the art of Thomas Moran. His first novel, The Man in the Box, concerns a Jew hiding from Nazis in a secret, boxlike room in an Austrian farmer's barn. His next, The World I Made for Her, features a protagonist imprisoned within his own disease-ravaged body. In Water, Carry Me, Moran expands beyond physical constraints to explore the greatest trap of all: love. When we first meet Una Moss, she is in her final year of medical school in Ireland. Orphaned at the age of 8, she has grown up uneasily straddling two worlds: that of her working-class grandfather, Rawney, with whom she lives in a village outside of Cork, and the upper-class milieu of private school and moneyed friends. Early in the novel Moran hints at the political themes that will soon enmesh her: Rawney, a railroad engineer, frequently carries mysterious crates "all the way to Sligo, up near the Ulster border," and boasts of his "dangerous friends." In reality, though, his friends are more endangered than dangerous: Mungo, the fisherman who occasionally brings strange packages ashore in his boat, is the victim of a mysterious shipwreck; Des and Mick, who help load the contraband, are both picked up by the police, only to reappear weeks later with "a hole in their lives, an awful, secret space, a haunting."

Indeed everyone in Moran's novel is haunted in some way by the conflict in Northern Ireland. Una herself was orphaned because of her father's involvement with one side or the other:

The violence is like a virus moving invisibly through our blood, the IRA and the Ulster Defense Association the Typhoid Marys of it. It kills some, and deadens the hearts of the rest of us. Nobody but idiots--and the mad fanatics--are immune.

Neither, it turns out, is Una. Though at first she manages to lead a fairly normal life--going to school, spending time with her friends, and even falling in love with charming Aidan Ferrel--eventually the Troubles engulf her, too, and it is love that proves to be her undoing. In the haunting, heartbreaking Water, Carry Me Moran weaves the political and the personal into a net so subtle that his characters don't know they've been caught in it until it's too late. --Alix Wilber --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Water, Carry Me is a fictional love story based on the political upheaval in Northern Ireland. The novel follows Una Moss, the narrator, who is in her final year of medical school studying to be a surgeon. It chronicles her life from childhood to womanhood. Una is orphaned as a young girl when her parents are killed in a car accident, and she is sent to live with her alcoholic grandfather, Rawney, in a small Irish fishing village. She enjoys an upper-middle-class life, going to private schools, spending time with her rich friends, and falling in love with Aidan Ferrel. In this evocative, upsetting tale, Moran interweaves the political problems in Ireland with personal relationships. As the story develops, Una's life of innocence turns into betrayal, and she finds herself a na ve victim of volatile political conditions. Moran's gripping, artfully written, poignant book provides insight into the violence in Northern Ireland. Derdriu Ring's quick-moving narration keeps the reader on edge. Highly recommended. Carol Stern, Glen Cove Lib., NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Trade (March 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573228540
• ISBN-13: 978-1573228541
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,951,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Irish Analysis, March 8, 2000

By 

Dorothy J. C. Kozak - See all my reviews

This review is from: Water, Carry Me (Hardcover)

Water Carry Me is a thoughtful, thoughtprovoking, and searingly emotional novel that jarrs the thinking and pushes at the heartstrings. Having initially read this book for business, I reread the book for pleasure, finding it impossible to escape its powerful themes of family, loyalty, and passionate committment. Although the reader may initially think the plot is a straightforward, standard thriller, there are numerous twists and turns along the way that keep one guessing as to the author's next maneuver. The main protagonist is a strong, heroic character, and the overall tone of the novel establishes an emotional connection to her from the outset. Overall, this is a thorough, well crafted novel with a wealth of thematic material to offer its audience.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SIMPLY, I AM LEFT BEREFT...., April 14, 2000

By 

Tonya (Oberlin, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Water, Carry Me (Hardcover)

This was absolutely the most beautiful, and tragic book I have ever read. Love written about has never been more poetic and more in tune with what a woman's heart longs for. At the same time, I feel as if I am in mourning from reading this book. My heart is shattered and somehow I know that no reader will be left untouched by such haunting ,descriptive prose. It was like reading a love poem that enters into your heart and promises to never leave. I won't stop thinking about this book for quiet awhile.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A poem, an elegy, May 20, 2000

By 

Lynn Adler - See all my reviews

This review is from: Water, Carry Me (Audio Cassette)

The story and the words of this haunting and beautifully written story were the water that carried me through. It has been a few weeks since I finished the book. I am a prolific reader, and this this book stands out and stands tall. I was surprised and touched by its brilliant prose that read like poetry and more by the fate of the character, but I don't think one would have been possible without the other. At the end, one does feel very close to grief, the kind that makes you double over and scream silently. The tragedy of Una is heightened by the depth of her love and innocence, by the beauty of the landscape and the language, next to the incomprehension of cruelty and being caught in a political struggle that one has not sought. I feel that I have to immediately read "Man in the Box" and everything else that Moran has written and will write.