Water

by Stephen Hirst

Although Hadley wants to contribute to the remote Lake District community that is his new home, it has little call for – or even tolerance of – his London skills. Soon, however, he becomes absorbed in the valley’s relationship with water, and particularly the twin seasonal difficulties of either too little or too much of it. He needs the local hill-farmer to let him try to improve their supply, and he’d like to try and help the wider community with their concerns about flooding, but is he more likely simply to antagonise everybody?
Water tells a compelling story of neighbours attempting to cross water that’s never quite yet under the bridge. It is, in its way, a Cumbrian love letter, but to a grittier vision of a single working Lake District valley rather than the more picturesque panoramas that normally get the plaudits. Its characters, and especially the dynamics between them, are engaging, convincing and thought-provoking as the story accelerates from summer to winter.

219 pages, Paperback

Published February 15, 2025