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Clouded Waters: A Novel
In the far north, as water defenders and pro-mining forces clash, the publisher of a struggling newspaper unearths a corrupt conspiracy.
Near Iron, Minnesota, waters split along a three-way divide, carrying minerals and contaminants to Hudson Bay, the Great Lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico. Susan B. Ellingson (SB to those who know her) runs a small paper with the help of her best friend and a part-time staff. When a mining company seeks a permit to dig for copper and nickel and store potentially harmful mining waste nearby, SB commits to covering the story. It isn't easy. She wrestles with financial stress and personal pain. Her dead wife lingers in spirit. Their children have grown and left home, and SB's Labrador provides sweet but insufficient company. Her mother-in-law leads a group of Ojibwe and Métis grandmothers fighting to protect the water, and after an intriguing new woman comes to town, SB isn't sure how to feel or act. After a fiery environmentalist informs her that a local water scientist has gone missing, she follows a trail of evidence from a tiny, off-grid community into a global tangle of lies, corruption, whistleblowing, and danger.
Near Iron, Minnesota, waters split along a three-way divide, carrying minerals and contaminants to Hudson Bay, the Great Lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico. Susan B. Ellingson (SB to those who know her) runs a small paper with the help of her best friend and a part-time staff. When a mining company seeks a permit to dig for copper and nickel and store potentially harmful mining waste nearby, SB commits to covering the story. It isn't easy. She wrestles with financial stress and personal pain. Her dead wife lingers in spirit. Their children have grown and left home, and SB's Labrador provides sweet but insufficient company. Her mother-in-law leads a group of Ojibwe and Métis grandmothers fighting to protect the water, and after an intriguing new woman comes to town, SB isn't sure how to feel or act. After a fiery environmentalist informs her that a local water scientist has gone missing, she follows a trail of evidence from a tiny, off-grid community into a global tangle of lies, corruption, whistleblowing, and danger.
- GenresEnvironmentLGBT
282 pages, Paperback
Published October 10, 2023
3 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 9, 2023
With a compelling story, relatable characters, and a hot environmental issue to back it up, Dianna Hunter’s CLOUDED WATERS is so much more than a mystery. Here you’ll find the story of a small-town newspaper publisher, Susan B. Ellingson (aka SB), who is being bullied into reporting friendly-like on the impact of a copper-nickel mining project being proposed in her community by a large corporation; the story of a widowed, recent empty nester, still grieving the loss of her wife, who suddenly is confronted with the opportunity for a new relationship, and of course, the mystery: a scientist who goes missing while studying the effects of copper-nickel mining and the corporation’s dubious plan for waste management.
With these storylines propelling the story forward, you won’t put CLOUDED WATERS down until you turn the last page. You wouldn’t guess that this is Hunter’s first novel; with the skill of an accomplished novelist, she deftly braids together not only these storylines, but the social issues underlying them – treaty rights, LBGTQ harassment, environmental concerns, and the death of thousands of local newspapers sold out to conglomerates or downsized into oblivion.
Hunter’s dialogue is whip-smart, too. Publisher SB is witty and not afraid to speak her mind, even when the threats become violent. When Gwen, her reporter, talks to the missing scientist’s colleagues, they speak about the mining company’s plan for waste management, calling it a sham and a looming disaster, but the hydrologists are fearful for their safety and their careers and won’t go on the record.
"So, these people aren’t exactly profiles in courage material,” SB notes dryly.
But SB is nothing if not tenacious. Eventually another hydrologist comes forward with some damning studies and provides so many documents that SB and her team must enlist the help of a larger newspaper, but SB holds her ground in the negotiations for bylines and credits and legal expertise. She also stands up to county commissioners, city councilors, and the rogue citizen hell bent on pushing their own agenda.
CLOUDED WATERS is a well-written mystery that addresses issues near and dear to those of us living in the Arrowhead Region of Minnesota and beyond. If you are a socially conscious reader, go forth, my friends, and pick up a copy of CLOUDED WATERS. Highly recommended for mystery fans looking for stories with depth and heart.
With these storylines propelling the story forward, you won’t put CLOUDED WATERS down until you turn the last page. You wouldn’t guess that this is Hunter’s first novel; with the skill of an accomplished novelist, she deftly braids together not only these storylines, but the social issues underlying them – treaty rights, LBGTQ harassment, environmental concerns, and the death of thousands of local newspapers sold out to conglomerates or downsized into oblivion.
Hunter’s dialogue is whip-smart, too. Publisher SB is witty and not afraid to speak her mind, even when the threats become violent. When Gwen, her reporter, talks to the missing scientist’s colleagues, they speak about the mining company’s plan for waste management, calling it a sham and a looming disaster, but the hydrologists are fearful for their safety and their careers and won’t go on the record.
"So, these people aren’t exactly profiles in courage material,” SB notes dryly.
But SB is nothing if not tenacious. Eventually another hydrologist comes forward with some damning studies and provides so many documents that SB and her team must enlist the help of a larger newspaper, but SB holds her ground in the negotiations for bylines and credits and legal expertise. She also stands up to county commissioners, city councilors, and the rogue citizen hell bent on pushing their own agenda.
CLOUDED WATERS is a well-written mystery that addresses issues near and dear to those of us living in the Arrowhead Region of Minnesota and beyond. If you are a socially conscious reader, go forth, my friends, and pick up a copy of CLOUDED WATERS. Highly recommended for mystery fans looking for stories with depth and heart.
October 30, 2023
I didn't think I'd enjoy this as much as I did. SB is a rarity: an older main character who behaves in a level-headed and sensible way and follows through with investigation over emotions, despite threats, homophobia, and general roadblocks in her way. The case is interesting and easy to follow. The characters and groups involved in the central problem are often more nuanced than the typical good buys and bad guys bifurcation. The sprinkling of the personal as SB tries to relate to her grown children who have moved away, grieves a long-term wife who was indigenous to the land while she herself isn't, and also starts to develop a new relationship late in life with a new woman in town are all the cherry on top.
October 21, 2024
Firstly, I want to express my appreciation to Dianna Hunter for telling a story like this, which is too often neglected. Minnesota's Iron Range is a fascinating place, and a rich setting to explore the divides in America today. Queer stories and Queer love exist in every community, but not every community gets its representation shown in culture. I was incredibly excited when I first saw this book on the shelves. It is hard not to be moved by SB as a matriarchal figure and water protector. Especially with debates on issues such as Line 3 tearing through Minnesota today, understanding our culture's relationship with the Earth, particularly in the Indigenous context, Hunter picked a pressing topic. As a Minnesotan, I have a deep respect for one of our own writing this.
I also have to give my honest review, and I must say, personally I did not care for this novel. I struggled to keep up with the characters, settings frequently changed, and it felt as if there were too many plots going on at once. In my opinion, it could have used a more focused, disciplined approach. Instead, it left me confused and bored.
As someone who largely shares Hunter's political perspective (on the left), I felt unsure about how issues were presented in the book. Sometimes when authors want to make an argument with their work it can end up sounding more like an opinion piece than a fictional story. There were times when I felt this book bled into this. While not entirely demonizing her political opponents (namely, supporters of mining), I often felt the characters representing them (and the arguments they made) were portrayed too simply as villains and straw-manned. Particularly with an issue as multifaceted as the relationship between mining and communities on the Range, I feel a disservice is done when the other side is not given a fair shake, and I would find the story more credible if it contained this complexity.
Ultimately, not my cup of tea, but I would not discourage anyone curious from reading it!
I also have to give my honest review, and I must say, personally I did not care for this novel. I struggled to keep up with the characters, settings frequently changed, and it felt as if there were too many plots going on at once. In my opinion, it could have used a more focused, disciplined approach. Instead, it left me confused and bored.
As someone who largely shares Hunter's political perspective (on the left), I felt unsure about how issues were presented in the book. Sometimes when authors want to make an argument with their work it can end up sounding more like an opinion piece than a fictional story. There were times when I felt this book bled into this. While not entirely demonizing her political opponents (namely, supporters of mining), I often felt the characters representing them (and the arguments they made) were portrayed too simply as villains and straw-manned. Particularly with an issue as multifaceted as the relationship between mining and communities on the Range, I feel a disservice is done when the other side is not given a fair shake, and I would find the story more credible if it contained this complexity.
Ultimately, not my cup of tea, but I would not discourage anyone curious from reading it!
November 22, 2023
I love Clouded Waters. This environmental thriller, plus Sapphic romance and mystery is one of the most intelligent, nuanced, and interesting books I've read in a long time. All the threads are deftly woven through the central character, a Minnesota small town newspaper editor/publisher (like my mom) willing to take on the corporate powers that would pollute rivers along the continental divide.
SB's personal waters are clouded as well, by grief at the loss of her wife, by their two grown children leaving home, and by the threats to her newspaper and to her life by corrupt mining interests. Sara Pajunen's cover photo of a lone woman looking out over a landscape scarred by an abandoned mining pit is perfect. However, Hunter demonstrates that it takes a community of truth-tellers to confront evil and win--at least temporarily.
This struggle is not just the stuff of fine fiction; it still is being waged in northern Minnesota and elsewhere. May those involved be heartened by Dianna Hunter's ode to investigative journalism and her profound understanding of the courage and tenacity needed to protect precious land and unclouded water. And in SB's case, to risk falling in love again, one of the sweetest, most restrained, and most redemptive threads in Clouded Waters.
SB's personal waters are clouded as well, by grief at the loss of her wife, by their two grown children leaving home, and by the threats to her newspaper and to her life by corrupt mining interests. Sara Pajunen's cover photo of a lone woman looking out over a landscape scarred by an abandoned mining pit is perfect. However, Hunter demonstrates that it takes a community of truth-tellers to confront evil and win--at least temporarily.
This struggle is not just the stuff of fine fiction; it still is being waged in northern Minnesota and elsewhere. May those involved be heartened by Dianna Hunter's ode to investigative journalism and her profound understanding of the courage and tenacity needed to protect precious land and unclouded water. And in SB's case, to risk falling in love again, one of the sweetest, most restrained, and most redemptive threads in Clouded Waters.
January 5, 2024
Clouded Waters is a fine novel about SB, a forty-plus lesbian who runs a small town newspaper in Minnesota. She learns that a woman scientist who worked on a report about a proposed mine in the area has gone missing. At the urging of the missing scientist's friends, SB, with the help of her editor, Gwen, tries to learn about the scientist and about the mine.
SB is a widow who lost her partner five years earlier and has two children who have grown up and are moving in their own directions. She isn't sure whether she would want to get involved again, but she meets a woman who becomes interested in her.
Most of the book is devoted to an exploration of the problems of mining in an area where toxic chemicals from the rocks are likely to poison the water. Uncovering corporate secrets becomes dangerous. Dianna Hunter describes all that very well. She also writes respectfully about the Anishinaabe people who have lived in the area for thousands of years. SB's deceased lover was Anishinaable and SB is still close to her mother-in-law, who is an activist water protector.
SB is a widow who lost her partner five years earlier and has two children who have grown up and are moving in their own directions. She isn't sure whether she would want to get involved again, but she meets a woman who becomes interested in her.
Most of the book is devoted to an exploration of the problems of mining in an area where toxic chemicals from the rocks are likely to poison the water. Uncovering corporate secrets becomes dangerous. Dianna Hunter describes all that very well. She also writes respectfully about the Anishinaabe people who have lived in the area for thousands of years. SB's deceased lover was Anishinaable and SB is still close to her mother-in-law, who is an activist water protector.
September 23, 2024
I enjoyed this book for a few reasons. One, it tackled two complicated topics - MN Mining and the erosion of small-town journalism. I grew up in MN so I was immediately familiar with the mining issues and as a former journalist myself, I could relate all too well to the journalism component of this story. Overall, I really enjoyed the writing and the storyline. I wish journalists in small towns got to be the hero like they were in this story - definitely a message of hope and why local newspapers need to be around.
November 1, 2023
A spellbinding novel that combines themes of
small-town journalism,politics,love and environmental issues. Real-world situations combined with fictional characters that will strike a chord within you.
small-town journalism,politics,love and environmental issues. Real-world situations combined with fictional characters that will strike a chord within you.
Want to read
October 14, 2023Subtext Catalog 2023 Adult Fiction
June 6, 2024
I enjoyed reading a novel/mystery set in my own state. The protagonist was likable, the story believable. I was compelled to keep reading.
October 15, 2024
it was good! i came here for the romance and there wasn’t much of it but environmental issues are also near and dear to my heart so i valued the book overall
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews