Trouble the Water

by Nicole Seitz

Set in the South Carolina Sea Islands, Nicole Seitz's second novel follows the stories of two sisters. One is seeking to recreate her life yet again and learns to truly live from a group of Gullah nannies she meets on the island. The other thinks she's got it all together until her sister's imminent death from cancer causes her to re-examine her own life and seek the healing and rebirth her troubled sister managed to find on St. Anne's Island.An entrancing, unsettling story of sisterhood and sea changes, healing grace and unlikely angels. A tragic, hilarious, hope-filled novel about the art of starting over.

Genres: Fiction, Christian Fiction, Southern, Womens Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Christian

289 pages, Paperback

First published March 11, 2008

About the author

Nicole Seitz is a South Carolina Lowcountry native, the author of seven critically acclaimed novels, and editor of a non-fiction anthology. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Journalism, she also has a bachelor's degree in illustration from Savannah College of Art & Design. Nicole is a speaker on writing, art, and faith; she's a painter and has illustrated the covers for her novels. She also taught art for many years at a local private school in the Charleston, South Carolina area, where she lives with her husband and two children. Nicole's latest release, The Cage-maker, is a Southern Gothic historical mystery based on discoveries she made while researching her own family history in New Orleans.

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, this was a good but sad story. I would recommend this one!

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say, my rating tells you I thought the book was amazing. I guess because the book mirrored a recent loss of a loved one for me, but I have to say the characters in this book were just LOVELY! I would love to meet many of them and I have to say that "The Dutchess" is my favorite. I love the blend here of humor, sadness, and "Gullah" life. I grew up on a great lake so stories about water attract me and I live not too far from the Atlantic. I have a tendency to pick up any book with the word "water" in it's title. I'm not going to give to much away here, but I will say that this is a beautiful book!

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a surprise. I picked it up not knowing the subject matter. Very sad to start with and end with, but in a good way. Two sisters come together with a secret they didn't know they shared. If you read this book, make sure you read the Epilogue since there is a twist at the end. Also A Note From the Author has some interesting facts I am sure every woman would want to checkout for their own knowledge. I would have given this book another 1/2 star, but this site doesn't permit this for some reason. Check it out.

[Jo Lynn Loewenkamp · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm between one and two stars on this one. I guess it was okay, but honestly wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to anybody. It was a quick read, but I'm really bugged by the fact that she misused "desert" vs. "dessert", so ya know what? I took it down to one star, for that. And, it's not like it was a mistake once, I think it was about 5 times. (Somebody getting their "just deserts" - whatever.)

[Issababy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I started reading this book I kept thinking how this is not my normal type of book. While that is true, it's also true that I fell in love with it. It's sad and beautiful and terrifying and uplifting all at the same time. I highly recommend it to all my female friends. Ride the roller coaster that is this book. You won't regret it.

[Deborah Martinez · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would rate this 2.5 stars. I had a hard time getting into the book, and found it to be confusing how it jumped from past and present so often. With that being said, I thought the story line of women being there for each other and forming a bond was beautiful. After looking at other ratings/reviews, I realize mine is very low, but I just struggled a bit with all the back and forth.

[Gretchen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get into it....

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read about 50 pages. I could not get into this book!

[Cheryl]

I can see the appeal. I did make it to p. 69. But Southern fiction and I just don't mix. For one, I'm not sure that the white author really understands the African-American culture of her neighbors well enough to portray them so intimately. For another, the eccentricities and sentimentality are just, ergh, melodrama/ soap opera. For another, there's too much reliance on the supernatural (God).

dnf August 2023

[Brandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I think about it, I realize I've read quite a few books about islanders who band together against outsiders, protecting their ways and secrets and leaving a newcomer protagonist to sort things out on her own. Trouble the Water by Nicole Seitz is a refreshing contrast. The denizens of the fictional St. Anne's Isle in the Lowcountry of South Carolina embrace Honor Maddox when she's at her lowest, setting her on a spiritual journey to confronting the painful past she's trying to escape.

The story is told in the alternating perspectives of Honor, her sister Alice, and Duchess, an eccentric islander with regrets of her own. Ms. Seitz deals us a tender story of the particular miracle of bearing another's burdens when one's own are too much to shoulder. Relationships and spiritual transformation unfold through lovely symbolism and distinctive voices. Also, tearjerker warning: if you know much about what it's like to sit by your dying loved one's hospital bed, and maybe even if you don't, you will cry.

Highly recommended for Lowcountry fans and those who believe in miracles.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last week I started this wonderful novel and finished it within a couple days. I was captured...from the very first page. Nicole was able to drop me straight into the story and surround me with characters that I took an instant liking to. The story is told from the perspective of three different characters; Duchess, Honor and Alice. It's a story of friendship, sisterhood, and forgiveness. It has a bittersweet ending, but is a story that will stick with you long after you finish.

[Dave Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written, interesting characters, haunting plot. Two sisters, troubling past, how hard it is to be honest, even with oneself. Highly recommended. I picked up another of Seitz's books from the library today.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful look at female friendship/bonds

[Alisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, well-written, heart warming story.

[Betty Kaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply beautiful - a book of hope.

[Lesa Crews · Rating 5 out of 5]

First time I have read from this author and love her! The story is has meaning and a bit of humor along the way.
Highly recommend!

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG! This was terrific!

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

a great book of women and how our relationships help us all through the hard stuff in life

[Dolores · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It was heart touching and warm.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author Nicole Seitz chewed off a chunk of issues in Trouble the Water. And she uses the names of the characters and letters and songs to change points of view, which made this reader start over and pay close attention to dates and characters. Honor, the main character, has a close relationship with her older and only sibling Alice who is living a conventional life with a husband and two college-aged daughters. Honor has lived a checkered life and aims to end it when a group of black nannies find her slumped body in a local park. They take her to a gnarled Gullah elder named Blondell who forces an organic elixir down her throat that makes her vomit the contents of her stomach...and saves her life. When Honor is strong enough, Blondell tells her black ladies to take Honor to stay with the Duchess.
The Duchess, my favorite character, is an eccentric old lady who walks around her mansion of a house stark naked. If sagging breasts, midriff bulges and flabby buttocks don't shock you straight, nothing will. The Southern Duchess, Anne, lives amidst filth and clutter in her big house with a scenic ocean view. When sent to the kitchen for a cup of tea, Honor willingly takes on the chore of cleaning the kitchen before attempting to eat anything made in it.
Honor is forced to comply with Blondell's instructions to meet daily in the playground with the nannies for lessons. Honor has lived a wild kind of life with a failed marriage, no children and a common law husband who ridicules her. She's messed up, but she tells her sister Alice that she's living the life. Honor was on her way to see her sister when she couldn't disappoint her big sister with the reality of having failed again. Honor did not like one bit Alice's husband, and with reason that later comes to the surface.
The Duchess discovers that Honor has a talent for painting and paints seashells for the Duchess until she runs out of canvases and paints. Honor has never received praise for her talent and finds it heady and encouraging. She asks the Duchess if she can paint her walls, and she imitates the Botiicellis masterpiece, The Birth of Venus, using the Duchess for the Venus figure. WOW o WOW.
The Duchess hosts a "gallery" exhibit and invites the whole community of blacks and whites to her house. But an event has shifted the gala event. When the Duchess convinces Honor to go skinny dipping in the ocean, the Duchess recognizes a remarkable contrast in Honor's breasts...yes, cancer.
The sisters are reunited, but it's under less than desirable circumstances.
The novel has many unusual characters and revelations that create a spinning vortex capturing my curiosity to the twisting conclusion.

[Ingrid · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really hard book for me to get into, but once there, I couldn't put it down. It wasn't that it was so captivating that I had to press on. It was just so weird and sad that I had to see how it ended. It did have an interesting twist at the end that I did NOT see coming. I found the character of Duchess to be strange and didn't like how you were not let in on why she was the way she was until the end. I did enjoy the backdrop/setting and the interesting things about the Gullah people. Not sure I would recommend it to anyone. It is sad and I was a bit irritated at the main character.

[Neva Womack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without a doubt, one of the best books I have read in a long time. My daughter loaned me this book saying, "Mom, you've just got to read this book!" She was right. This book was published in 2007 and shouldn't be too hard to find. I urge each and every one of you to read this book. When I first started it I rolled my eyes, then I laughed, followed by the tears, and finally the rejoicing.

[Karen Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really well written book that takes place in the low country, Gullah way of life flows through the background of this book. The sad story takes a life full circle from someone she knew in her past to someone she is with now in the present. This story was riviting and I enjoyed the author's writing.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book covered a lot of emotions and characters. I found it confusing at first, but when I realized it was told from 3 main characters individual first person point of view, it made much more sense! The story itself was overall sad throughout but had a great culmination ending in the epilogue that brought together the sadness into something fresh and right!

[Rosemary Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not typically the kind of book that would interest me, however after saying this, I found this book wonderful, enthralling and I found that I couldn't put it down as I needed to know more about Honor, Alice's and the "Duchesses" life. Great book.

[Jeannie B · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was well written and aptly titled however it is overwhelmingly focused on tragedy. Certainly there are redeeming lessons about strength and faith but don't expect any lightness from this read.

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read throughout, good characters, easy to envision what was taking place in the book. Strong ending with a surprise.

[Aria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf @ p. 66. This book is so bad, in so many ways.

[Meridith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspirational … a wonderful, beautifully written MUST read !

[Tammy L. Noble · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. As a lover of South Carolina 's low country this book really spoke to me. Loved the characters