The Water Dancers: A Novel [Paperback]

Terry Gamble (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 25, 2004

A stunning debut novel from a new voice in literary fiction, set on Lake Michigan following World War II, The Water Dancers limns the divide between the worlds of the wealthy elite "summer people" and the poor native population who serve them–and what happens when those worlds collide.

When Rachel Winnapee first comes to work at the March family summer home on vast and beautiful Lake Michigan, she quickly learns her place. Servants are seen and not heard as they bring the breakfast trays, wash and iron luxurious clothes, and serve gin and tonics to the wealthy family as they lounge on the deck playing bridge. Orphaned as a poverty–stricken young girl from the nearby band of Native Americans, Rachel is in awe of the Marches' glamorous life–and quite enamored of the family's son Woody.

Rachel is soon assigned the task of caring for Woody, a young man whose life has been changed utterly by his experience as a soldier in WWII. The war has cost Woody not only his leg, but, worse, the older brother he loved and admired. Now back at home, Woody cannot bear to face the obligations of his future – especially when it comes to his bride–to–be Elizabeth. Woody finds himself drawn to Rachel, who is like no one he's ever known. The love affair that unites these two lost souls in this Great Gatsby–esque portrait of class division will alter the course of their lives in ways both heartbreaking and profound.

This novel's richness is due, in part, to the author's memories of summers spent at her family's house on Lake Michigan, home to six generations of Gambles (as in Procter & Gamble). THE WATER DANCERS, told in a voice as clear and cool as lake water, is a luminescent tale of love, loss and redemption, and heralds the arrival of a remarkable new talent.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Racial and class conflicts simmer in this lackluster first novel by Gamble, a romance set in a district of lavish summer homes on Lake Michigan and in a nearby Native American community. Sixteen-year-old Rachel Winnapee, an orphaned Odawa Indian, goes to work as a maid for the affluent March family in 1945. She becomes a nurse for the Marches' son, Woody, recently back from the war minus a leg. The two have an affair that ends with the close of the summer season, after which Rachel discovers that she's pregnant. She doesn't tell Woody (who goes on to marry a society girl), and she raises the baby, Ben, on a nearby farm owned by the two midwives who delivered him. After nine years on the farm, Rachel becomes reacquainted with Honda Jack, an aspiring Native American community leader from her Odawa settlement. He persuades Rachel to move back, and she once again encounters the snobbish Mrs. March, who tells her that Woody has recently died in an accident. Rachel tells her the truth about Ben, and the two make a secret pact: Mrs. March will give Rachel enough money for Honda Jack to purchase the land that whites have stolen from the Odawa, and Rachel promises to keep Ben's father's identity hidden. The volume then skips to 1970, when Ben, back from Vietnam, returns to the Odawa community and finds work near the March home. Soon the March and Winnapee families begin to learn each other's secrets, leading to an explosive finale. Gamble is sincere in her critique of the prejudice and carelessness of the exclusive summer set. The plot is melodramatic, however, and the characters are painted in broad, familiar strokes, weakening the impact of Gamble's plea for social justice.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Sixteen-year-old Native American Rachel Winnapee, taken in by nuns after her grandmother's death, earns her keep by working at the Marches' lavish Victorian summer home on the shores of Lake Michigan. The perks include cast-off designer clothing and leftover gourmet food, but for the fiercely proud Rachel, they are spoiled by their designation as "charity." Woody March returns from World War II a haunted and broken man, heavily addicted to morphine as a result of losing his leg. Rachel and Woody, both wracked by a feeling of being somehow incomplete, embark on a healing and joyful love affair, which ends disastrously when the formidable family matriarch discovers that Rachel is pregnant. Rachel eventually returns to her native village, while Woody marries moneyed socialite Elizabeth. Some 30 years later, Woody's sons by Rachel and Elizabeth--one a restless Vietnam vet, the other a dissolute artist--don't just cross racial and class boundaries, they stand them on their head. In this luminous first novel, Gamble (a descendant of one of the founders of Procter and Gamble) imparts a remarkable sense of place while launching a searing indictment of prejudice, all the while demonstrating a restrained, understated lyricism that only serves to heighten the novel's power Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (May 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060542675
• ISBN-13: 978-0060542672
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,806,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A reader from Vermont, September 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Water Dancers: A Novel (Hardcover)

I loved this book. It is spare and poetic and packs a real punch. I could feel and see and smell the setting (Beck's Point) in Michigan, and felt that the characters were real and compelling. It was hard to let them go. I bought three other copies to give to friends.
This love story is set among the richest AND the poorest in American society--their interactions and assumptions about each other, and Rachel and Woody's attempts to bridge the gap are wonderfully rendered.
I hope Terry Gamble writes another novel soon. I'll be first in line at the bookstore.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A luminous debut that overflows with beauty., April 13, 2004

By 

Sarah - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Water Dancers: A Novel (Hardcover)

Like author Terry Gamble (of Proctor and Gamble lineage), I've spent nearly every summer of my life in and around Harbor Springs, Michigan, a small Northern Michigan resort community on the Little Traverse Bay. Gamble has drawn from her childhood memories spent on Harbor Point to create the lush settings for Water Dancers, using thinly veiled pseudonyms for Harbor Point (Beck's Point), Harbor Springs (Moss Village), Petoskey (Chibawasee), and Cross Village (Horseshoe Lake).

The novel's protagonist, Rachael Winnapee, is a sixteen-year old Odawa orphan from Horseshoe Lake who, since the death of her grandmother, has lived at the Indian School in Moss Village (the actual school is alongside the Holy Childhood of Jesus Catholic Church in Harbor Springs), and like many First Nations orphans, is sent to be a domestic at Beck's Point.

The novel begins in 1945. Rachael ends up serving the March family from St. Louis. The March's sons are both overseas fighting, Lip in Belgium and Woody in the Pacific Theater. When Lip is killed in battle and Woody comes home an amputee and morphine addict, it is up to Rachel to help make Woody whole. The two begin a brief, intense love affair, sealed with seashells, hidden gifts, lovemaking in dunes, shallows and empty rooms, and finally, Rachael's unwanted pregnancy.

Rachel raises her son Ben on her own, continuing to live with the midwives who delivered her child. After nine years of helping out on their farm, Rachel moves back to Horseshoe Lake with Ben. The novel fast forwards to Ben's experiences fighting in Vietnam and his difficult readjustment to civilian life, and culminates in an unexpected and explosive conclusion in which the past is confronted and old ghosts laid to rest.

Water Dancers is a multifaceted novel of healing (three of the main characters are veterans), of class and race, duty, discovering inner strength, and seeking peace. The characters are poetically and lovingly crafted, down to the most minor details. Terry Gamble's first novel deliciously brings to life the many moods of water and forest that dominate life in Northern Michigan, and for those who are familiar with Northern Michigan, like Rachael's habit of licking stones, this novel will bring you home.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Water Dancers is a great read, July 25, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Water Dancers: A Novel (Hardcover)

In this thoroughly enjoyable first novel, Terry Gamble tells the story of a young Native American girl, Rachel Winneppee. Rachel find herself in the employment of a wealthy family and becomes the caretaker of the family's son Woody who has lost a leg in World War II. Their relationship, which forms the core of the book's plotline is rendered with great care and originality. The story takes some unexpected turns as the lives of Woody and Rachel intertwine. At one point the story takes a deeply sorrowful turn, but by the end a hopeful and forward looking resolution is reached.

Read this book for the engrossing story, but as importantly, look for the character development. These are people you care about. Several of the minor characters, such as Ada and Bliss, two older women who look after Rachel are delightfully
drawn and help keep the book balanced between its somewhat somber central theme and more lighthearted moments.

It is obvious that Gamble is at home with language; one only wishes that some of the descriptions of the northern Michigan land and seascapes were allowed to be a little longer. The writing is, however, elegant and spare, often poetic, especially when probing the inner lives of the people who inhabit the book. This is a wonderful read.