Wade in the Water

A Novel

De: Nyani Nkrumah

Narrado por: Eboni Flowers, Teri Schnaubelt

“An impressive debut. Emotionally honest with lyricism and charm to spare, Nyani Nkrumah’s Wade in the Water depicts in riveting detail a racially charged Mississippi town, the secrets it holds, and the precious heart and soul of a young girl deserving love.”—Diane McKinney-Whetstone, author of Our Gen and Tumbling

“Fearless. . . . Vividly bring[s] to life rural 1980s Mississippi.”—People

“A dreamy, brutal, and revelatory reading experience that quickens the pulse and tugs the heart.”—Diane McWhorter, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning Carry Me Home

Resonant with the emotional urgency of Alice Walker’s classic Meridian and the poignant charm of Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, a gripping debut novel of female power and vulnerability, race, and class that explores the unlikely friendship between a precocious Black girl and a mysterious white woman in a small Mississippi town in the early 1980s.

Set in 1982, in rural, racially divided Ricksville, Mississippi Wade in the Water tells the story of Ella, a Black, unloved, precocious eleven-year-old, and Ms. St. James, a mysterious white woman from Princeton who appears in Ella’s community to carry out some research. Soon, Ms. St. James befriends Ella, who is willing to risk everything to keep her new friend in a town that does not want her there. The relationship between Ella and Ms. St. James, at times loving and funny and other times tense and cautious, becomes more fraught and complex as Ella unwittingly pushes at Ms. St. James’s carefully constructed boundaries that guard a complicated past, and dangerous secrets that could have devastating consequences.

Told in two voices, Ella’s and Ms. St. James’s, and set around richly developed characters, this riveting, compelling coming of age story will keep listeners entranced until the last shocking revelation.

©2023 Nyaneba Nkrumah (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Just Wonderful!

This has been one of the best books I have enjoyed in a very long time!

well done!

Touching story, well performed, with a powerful and extremely important message. Understanding different cultures, the mindsets that mold those cultures helps to heal trauma in this world.

excellent listen

Wonderfully well written, the story takes you to some unexpected places. All will be revealed in time but it won’t be what you think.

Impactful

I appreciated the fact that the characters were nuanced. This book kept my attention from beginning to end. I was hoping that Ella would have found her happy ending, and in a way she did. However, such is life and life is not tidy. Loved this book!

Ella

I love how this story touches on colorism back in the civil rights movement days or post civil rights movement days. I love how it touches on self esteem through the eyes of a young, dark skin, girl, and how she felt as opposed to her light skin siblings. It really helped me reflect on my own self-esteem issues as I was growing up as a teenager. And then having that same Epiphany that I was pretty when I finally looked in a mirror.

Unpredictable

The story is told from different view points. This allowed me to connect with all the characters even if I a didn’t want to.

Well Done

It’s a tough story to listen to, but the narration makes it real. Excellent writing and perfect voice for the setting and the content of the story.

New insights for me

as a Caucasian American, I realize how profoundly ignorant I am about the Black experience in this country. This book gave me many new insights as to what my Black brothers and sisters have experienced and continue to experience. Thank you!

As a Mississippian this Nobel blew me away

The narrators did an amazing job - this story will stay with me a long time! Highly highly recommended!

excellent

A masterfully told story. Engaging character development with thought provoking truth. A true must read.