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The Girl in the Water
Four teenagers and a feral cat navigate life in Gorbachev’s USSR, in this tragicomedy set against a backdrop of civilizations in decline. The Girl in the Water has launched the award-winning series Next Year’s Snow, a multigenerational saga about innocence, survival, oppression, and choice at the flashpoints of a madly fractured world. At the center of this debut is Nadia, a Soviet girl who witnesses her friend’s near-drowning on a remote northern beach.
Nadia is an abstract thinker coming to terms with the harsh realities around her. She is a bookworm, a prankster, a wanderer, and a note-taker. She sees people gambling with life and soul for little apparent gain and wonders what she can do to make a difference. Progressively, her life is pulled apart by her family’s migration to Ukraine, a dubious courtship, the Chernobyl disaster, police surveillance, and an Afghan war. As Nadia comes of age, she finds that the bonds of family and friendship create an inseparable to rescue one another or to drown.
Nadia is an abstract thinker coming to terms with the harsh realities around her. She is a bookworm, a prankster, a wanderer, and a note-taker. She sees people gambling with life and soul for little apparent gain and wonders what she can do to make a difference. Progressively, her life is pulled apart by her family’s migration to Ukraine, a dubious courtship, the Chernobyl disaster, police surveillance, and an Afghan war. As Nadia comes of age, she finds that the bonds of family and friendship create an inseparable to rescue one another or to drown.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
316 pages, Paperback
Published September 17, 2022
1 person is currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Howse
24 books8 followersJoseph Howse writes fiction, as well as technical books on computer programming and image analysis. He lives in a Nova Scotian fishing village, where he chats with his cats and nurtures an orchard of hardy fruit trees. His debut novel, The Girl in the Water, has won the 2023 Independent Press Award for Literary Fiction, the 2023 IAN Awards for Outstanding Multicultural Fiction, and the 2023 IPPY Awards Bronze Medal for Best Regional Ebook (Fiction). He is currently working on a sequel.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 17, 2022
There are very few novels that talk about the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disaster in Chernobyl. This book is one of them.
Truth to tell, that is the debut novel by Canadian author Joseph Howse. The Girl in the Water (this is the title of the book) is, hence, an historical novel, with a strong European footprint.
But what has a Canadian writer to do with a story set in the East of Europe?
He has a lot to do with it, because, as readers will discover in the novel, Canadians were heavily committed in this region of the world before and after the disaster.
They conducted medical research in Ukraine and saved tons of refugees aboard their ships that departed from the port of Odessa (this city is always located in Ukraine).
We are at the dawn of the political disintegration of the Soviet Union, in the novel, when Mikhail Gorbachev was about to banish nuclear weapons in the states of the Union, just before the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl blew up.
But his openness policy fails, and the surrounding countries of Eastern Europe precipitate into a desperate downturn. The inhabitants of Estonia look for a better future in the North of Europe, migrating abroad just from Odessa’s port.
It is in this changing and gloomy scenery that the vicissitudes of an Estonian family come to life.
Two sisters, Nadia and Nastya, get separated: the latter, the older sister, goes to Kiev and gets married with Lieutenant Giorgi.
Nadia, conversely, is different. She is a young and smart student who speaks two languages (English and Estonian) and reads Tolstoy. Nadia has great dreams: she does not seek for a social status given by a convenience marriage.
She aims for the mindfulness given by learning, culture and literature, which, in the novel, emerge as the true ingredients to obtain complete fulfillment and freedom.
Nadia moves back and forth to Estonia, where her paternal Grandma lives, and Ukraine, to visit the sister.
In this path, readers will meet other meaningful characters, such as Nadia’s grandmother, a veteran of WWII, Ida, a friend of Nadia and Nastya, and Rosya an activist who knows the tragedies of dictatorship and oppression.
Through the life experience of each of them, the author depicts an actual tale that leads us to understand the economic and political reasons behind the current European hardships.
The injuries left by Lenin and Stalin are still evident in the former Soviet Union. The military dominance of Russia over the other former Soviet countries comes from this far past that the current Russian leaders find hard to digest.
In these austere regimes, diversity is not tolerated, neither religious minorities, nor homosexuals. For them, differences are a peril, not an opportunity.
The characters of the book try escaping all this, along with the evacuation process in Pripyat, the city built around the nuclear power plant of Chernobyl.
They must escape radiation and an overwhelming limitation of their true identity.
Indeed, there is a solid sense of community and friendship in the story, tragic events seem always to stay in the backdrop, readers can just perceive a subtle vein of sadness which never turns into despair.
The power of women prevails in this historical novel; you can sense it in the dialogues oozing hope, energy and skillful lessons of life. These personages never lose their dignity, even when they endure injustice and sacrifices.
However, I would have preferred the story was narrated in first person, with the voice of Nadia. It is in third person, instead. But the meaning is clear: when an old-world ends, a new life is always around the corner. We must only have the courage to grasp it.
Truth to tell, that is the debut novel by Canadian author Joseph Howse. The Girl in the Water (this is the title of the book) is, hence, an historical novel, with a strong European footprint.
But what has a Canadian writer to do with a story set in the East of Europe?
He has a lot to do with it, because, as readers will discover in the novel, Canadians were heavily committed in this region of the world before and after the disaster.
They conducted medical research in Ukraine and saved tons of refugees aboard their ships that departed from the port of Odessa (this city is always located in Ukraine).
We are at the dawn of the political disintegration of the Soviet Union, in the novel, when Mikhail Gorbachev was about to banish nuclear weapons in the states of the Union, just before the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl blew up.
But his openness policy fails, and the surrounding countries of Eastern Europe precipitate into a desperate downturn. The inhabitants of Estonia look for a better future in the North of Europe, migrating abroad just from Odessa’s port.
It is in this changing and gloomy scenery that the vicissitudes of an Estonian family come to life.
Two sisters, Nadia and Nastya, get separated: the latter, the older sister, goes to Kiev and gets married with Lieutenant Giorgi.
Nadia, conversely, is different. She is a young and smart student who speaks two languages (English and Estonian) and reads Tolstoy. Nadia has great dreams: she does not seek for a social status given by a convenience marriage.
She aims for the mindfulness given by learning, culture and literature, which, in the novel, emerge as the true ingredients to obtain complete fulfillment and freedom.
Nadia moves back and forth to Estonia, where her paternal Grandma lives, and Ukraine, to visit the sister.
In this path, readers will meet other meaningful characters, such as Nadia’s grandmother, a veteran of WWII, Ida, a friend of Nadia and Nastya, and Rosya an activist who knows the tragedies of dictatorship and oppression.
Through the life experience of each of them, the author depicts an actual tale that leads us to understand the economic and political reasons behind the current European hardships.
The injuries left by Lenin and Stalin are still evident in the former Soviet Union. The military dominance of Russia over the other former Soviet countries comes from this far past that the current Russian leaders find hard to digest.
In these austere regimes, diversity is not tolerated, neither religious minorities, nor homosexuals. For them, differences are a peril, not an opportunity.
The characters of the book try escaping all this, along with the evacuation process in Pripyat, the city built around the nuclear power plant of Chernobyl.
They must escape radiation and an overwhelming limitation of their true identity.
Indeed, there is a solid sense of community and friendship in the story, tragic events seem always to stay in the backdrop, readers can just perceive a subtle vein of sadness which never turns into despair.
The power of women prevails in this historical novel; you can sense it in the dialogues oozing hope, energy and skillful lessons of life. These personages never lose their dignity, even when they endure injustice and sacrifices.
However, I would have preferred the story was narrated in first person, with the voice of Nadia. It is in third person, instead. But the meaning is clear: when an old-world ends, a new life is always around the corner. We must only have the courage to grasp it.
November 23, 2025
The Girl in the Water is a beautifully crafted coming-of-age story set against the charged historical backdrop of late-Soviet Estonia and Ukraine. Joseph Howse weaves together the lives of a diverse group of young friends as they navigate identity, loyalty, and uncertainty in a society on the brink of collapse.
What stands out most is the book’s emotional depth: the quiet tensions of the era, the looming shadow of events like the Afghan war and Chernobyl, and the personal struggles of adolescence are rendered with a gentle, human touch. Howse’s writing is atmospheric, both intimate and expansive, inviting the reader to feel the weight of history through the eyes of youth.
It’s a reflective, resonant novel, carefully observed, nuanced, and deeply empathetic. A meaningful contribution to modern historical fiction.
What stands out most is the book’s emotional depth: the quiet tensions of the era, the looming shadow of events like the Afghan war and Chernobyl, and the personal struggles of adolescence are rendered with a gentle, human touch. Howse’s writing is atmospheric, both intimate and expansive, inviting the reader to feel the weight of history through the eyes of youth.
It’s a reflective, resonant novel, carefully observed, nuanced, and deeply empathetic. A meaningful contribution to modern historical fiction.
December 2, 2025
The Girl in the Water is a powerful and emotionally rich coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the Soviet Union’s final, turbulent years. Following a multiethnic group of young friends in Estonia and Ukraine, Joseph Howse brings extraordinary depth to their experiences as they navigate a world shaped by war, disaster, and societal collapse.
The moment that stood out most for me was how these characters each carrying their own fears and hopes face the aftermath of Chernobyl while struggling to understand their identities in a world that offers few certainties. Their emotional journeys feel raw, honest, and deeply human.
Howse blends history and personal narrative with remarkable skill, creating a story that is haunting, moving, and unforgettable. A phenomenal read for anyone who loves layered, character-driven historical fiction.
The moment that stood out most for me was how these characters each carrying their own fears and hopes face the aftermath of Chernobyl while struggling to understand their identities in a world that offers few certainties. Their emotional journeys feel raw, honest, and deeply human.
Howse blends history and personal narrative with remarkable skill, creating a story that is haunting, moving, and unforgettable. A phenomenal read for anyone who loves layered, character-driven historical fiction.
November 24, 2023
Joseph Howse’s, The Girl In The Water, takes the reader to a time remembered in a place unknown. Without artifice or affectation, Mr. Howse skillfully captures the complicated everyday lives of a group of friends on the cusp of adulthood in the last stages of the USSR following the aftermath of Chernobyl. Mr. Howes’s well-drawn characters, authentically crafted dialogue, and unfamiliar indigenous locales make, The Girl In The Water, evocative of its time and place, and is an impressive debut novel. I look forward to his next release.
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April 27, 2024The Girl in the Water is a coming of age story set in Estonia and Ukraine follows a group of multiethnic group of young friends during the last days of the Soviet Union. Their lives are shaped by the Afghan war, the Chernobyl disaster and the end days of USSR.
The novel was well written, though in third person and is more then how their lives are shaped by wars and disasters.
I would say i loved the writing style and the story idea
The novel was well written, though in third person and is more then how their lives are shaped by wars and disasters.
I would say i loved the writing style and the story idea
June 18, 2023
As a lover of characters, I did enjoy Nadia but felt bogged down and left empty with the details of the story.
November 27, 2023
Took me ages to finish as you get lost in the story.
But it’s a good read
But it’s a good read
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews