By: Teresa H. Janssen
ISBN: 978-1-64742-583-8
She Writes Press, 2023
As Josie Belle Gore, daughter of a Louisiana train engineer and Texas seamstress, journeys with her itinerant family through the deserts of the boom-and-bust American West and revolutionary Mexico, she learns that in her life, two things are constant: the preciousness of water, and her role as the savior of her family.
After unforeseeable circumstances force her family to scatter, Josie begins an odyssey that takes her from New Mexico’s Jornada del Muerto to Austin, Chihuahua, Tucson, and finally post-WWI San Francisco, suffering betrayal and survivor’s guilt, along the way. She comes of age as the American West expands—and as the world reels from a world war, raging pandemic, and the changes they bring.
With the help of compassionate friends and relatives, and no small amount of grit, Josie fashions an independent life for herself; and like a river meeting the sea, with nowhere else to run, she must make peace with the past and make good on her promise to the family she loves.
A tale of loss, hope, and forgiveness, The Ways of Water is a heart-warming story of a resilient young woman charting her course in a dramatically new world.
About the Author
Teresa H. Janssen’s essays and short fiction have appeared in a variety of anthologies and literary magazines, including ZYZZYVA, L.A. Review, and Chautauqua. Her historical coming-of-age novel, The Ways of Water, inspired by her grandmother’s early life, won the Western Heritage Award for outstanding western novel of 2023, the Best Book Award, Will Rogers Medallion, and the IPPY Silver in regional fiction. She lives in Washington state where she is at work on a memoir.
To learn more about Teresa H. Janssen and her work, please see www.teresahjanssen.com
