Water Witches [Paperback]

Chris Bohjalian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 1997

Set in the Vermont countryside, Water Witches is a tale of the clash between progress and tradition, science and magic. In the midst of a nightmarish New England drought, cynical ski industry lobbyist Scottie Winston is trying to get a large ski resort the permits it needs to tap already beleaguered rivers for snow. His wife, his little girl, and his sister-in-law -- dowsers or "water witches" all -- hope to stop him, however, in this gentle, comic, life-affirming novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a moving, life-affirming novel suffused with ecological wisdom, a Vermont ski resort's plans for expansion collide with environmentalists seeking to preserve a mountainous wildlife habitat and riverine ecosystem. Narrator Scott Winston, a transplanted New York City lawyer who represents the ski resort, switches allegiance after he and his nine-year-old daughter spot three mountain lions in an area targeted for clearing. Complicating matters is the envy that Scott's pragmatic wife, Laura, a native Vermonter, feels toward her famed sister, Patience Avery, a dowser (water witch) who also opposes the ski resort and whose talent for locating underground springs, missing persons or lost objects with a divining rod figures prominently in the novel's denouement. The struggle between the developers and their opponents culminates in an environmental board hearing that has all the dramatic excitement of a courtroom trial. With wit, insight and mordant irony, Bohjalian (Past the Bleachers) charts Scott's metamorphosis from rationalistic materialist and skeptic to one who believes in higher powers and the interconnectedness of all life. In a refreshing twist, instead of offering a bucolic idyll, the author takes us through a Vermont beset by drought, a declining ski industry, unemployment and endangered ecosystems.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Ecologically devastating oil spills, electromagnetic radiation, vegetarian Not Dogs-all the "green" issues of the day are present and accounted for in this topical offering from the author of the much-praised baseball novel Past the Bleachers (LJ 5/1/92), which is set, fittingly, in the Green Mountain country of Vermont. With the cards so stacked against him, it's a measure of Bohjalian's talent that rather than giving us mere personifications of Big Ideas, he's able to create fully realized characters we can care about-like his protagonist, a small-town lawyer who faces a crisis of conscience when he finds himself caught up in the familiar conflict between Jobs (in this case, the ski industry) and The Environment. The extensive dowsing lore that runs through the narrative like an underground stream is a bonus delight. Recommended for public libraries.
David Sowd, formerly with Stark Cty. District Lib., Canton, Ohio
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Gift Inscription Inside edition (April 8, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684826127
• ISBN-13: 978-0684826127
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 6.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #542,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Chris Bohjalian is the author of fourteen books, including the New York Times bestsellers, The Night Strangers, Secrets of Eden, Skeletons at the Feast, The Double Bind, Before You Know Kindness, The Law of Similars, and Midwives.

His new novel, The Night Strangers, is a ghost story inspired by a door in his basement and Sully Sullenberger's successful ditching of an Airbus in the Hudson River.

Secrets of Eden, his 2010 novel, will air as a Lifetime Television movie on January 28, 2012. It stars John Stamos and Anna Gunn.

Chris won the New England Book Award in 2002, and his novel, Midwives, was a number one New York Times bestseller, a selection of Oprah's Book Club, a Publishers Weekly "Best Book," and a New England Booksellers Association Discovery pick. His work has been translated into over 25 languages and twice before become movies ("Midwives" and "Past the Bleachers"). You can see some of the international covers on this web site.

He has written for a wide variety of magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Reader's Digest, and the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, and has been a Sunday columnist for Gannett's Burlington Free Press since 1992. Chris graduated from Amherst College, and lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter.

You can learn more about him here on the Q and A, as well as on Facebook . And, if you like, follow him on twitter as well.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dowsing for a great read?, February 20, 2002

By 

K. Fromal "kristinof" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Water Witches (Paperback)

Chris Bohjalian's book, Water Witches, is a fascinating study of one Vermont family. Laura and her daughter Miranda are "water witches" - they are able to use rods, and their intuition, to advise people where to place wells so as to have clear, drinkable water in their homes. Laura's sister is also a dowser - however her power extends beyond water, and she is able to find lost items and people.

Scottie is married to Laura. After moving to Vermont, he took the highest-paid job he could find, as a lobbyist for the ski industry. While he has built a name for himself, this job has pitted him against environmental activists. However, Scottie finds himself in a bind when his current employer, Powder Peak, wants to build new trails and tap a depleted river for water to make snow. Scottie, however, becomes a reluctant convert to the environmentalists' point of view when he spies a catamount, an endangered Vermont mountain, where the ski resort was planning on placing the trails. He must wrestle with himself and his commitments to do the right thing.

The ending of the story is incredibly powerful, and winds these two tales together with astonishing grace.

Overall, this book is highly recommended for fans of Bohjalian's other books, including Midwives, and readers who are interested in the often delicate balance between environmental preservation and economic growth.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quietly engaging fiction, October 31, 2000

By 

Trivimp (Warrensburg, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Water Witches (Paperback)

I found Water Witches to be a surprisingly engaging story. No over-the-top midwives or larger-than-life heroes here: the tale is populated by a bunch of ordinary people trying to do the right thing as best they can. Even the magic is low-key. Thus, the story isn't really just about the conflict between environment/development -- it's an extended character study of a man who has to make decisions that can't please everyone. Bohjalian propels the narrative along a little unevenly, but that only adds to the small-town, real-life feel of it.

This was a quick read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not his best, but interesting, October 7, 2005

By 

Dexter - See all my reviews

This review is from: Water Witches (Paperback)

I am a huge fan of Bohjalian's "Midwives" and could not wait to read this book. While it is not his best (in my humble opinion) it is certainly worth the time to read it. The sisters' problem with the community is a wonderful statement on the difficulties of being different in today's society. What truelly continues to amaze me is that Bohjalian speaks through a woman's eyes so knowingly, hard to believe it is written by a man.