About the Book
Can coming home bring redemption? Or at least a measure of peace? Recently released from prison, Blake Alvares returns to the only place she ever felt safe, the now derelict Maine town in which she harbored as a teen. Determined to conceal her secrets and losses, she soon finds herself dragged into others’ lives when she takes a job on a boat owned by a notorious young lobsterman.
Leland Savard is nearly broke, trying to support himself and 9-year-old Quinnie as he wrestles with a dangerous family legacy. Though his choice to hire Blake raises local eyebrows, Leland and those around Blake are quickly surprised and jarred by how much they come to rely on her. At the same time, Blake stumbles into love from unexpected places. When Leland’s rash actions place her and Quinnie in peril, Blake feels forced to run again–only to discover the past is never more than a few steps behind her.
On her quest for home, Blake must confront a daunting question: where does she belong?
Praise for Water Finds a Way
What a fiercely original novel! About trying to outrun our fractured lives and find our truest selves, and about facing our pasts to find our futures, this powerful read is truly a thoughtful stunner about where we find our place in the world—and our person.
—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Days of Wonder
One feels tugs of Faulkner in the array of characters who people this book…We feel Blake’s catalytic presence and watch as she joins a world of hardscrabble commercial fishing and the walking ghosts energized by her presence. This writer knows her turf—and surf—and makes an entire microcosmic world vibrate (and sometimes crack and shatter) on the way to truth and redemption. A great read.
—Frank X. Gaspar, Author of Leaving Pico, winner of Ca. Book Award and Barnes & Noble Discovery Award
In this gripping debut novel, Perry navigates one woman’s reckoning with unspeakable trauma and her will to move beyond the demons of her past. With vivid storytelling and evocative prose, Perry draws readers into the heart of a Maine fishing village, where struggles abound, and the sea both sustains and threatens. Long after the final page is turned, WATER FINDS A WAY continues to resonate, offering a poignant testament to the power of human connection, the strength of community, and the healing forces of nature.
—Gigi Georges, author of Downeast: Five Maine Girls and the Unseen Story of Rural America
Meghan Perry paints the weathered landscape of a small coastal Maine town and its hard-knock world of lobster fishing in a way that’s moody, earth-toned, nuanced, and completely immersive. This is a story of love that sprouts from dark crevices inside tortured people, for whom, despite or because of their brokenness, we quickly come to care. WATER FINDS A WAY disturbs and soothes, breaks and mends our hearts, and reminds us to look beneath appearances for the light of the human soul.
—River Adams, author of The Light of Seven Days, National Jewish Book Award finalist in fiction (2024)
This beautiful debut is a must-read for anyone who craves richly-hewn characters, a stunning setting, and a story that grips you until the very end. From their flaws and triumphs to their mistakes and breakthroughs, the characters will captivate you from the first page and stay with you until long after you finish reading.
—Elizabeth de Veer, author of The Ocean in Winter
Much like the alternately desolate and starkly beautiful Northern Maine coast to which ex-con Blake returns for a new start, Meghan Perry’s riveting and richly observed debut takes us on a serpentine journey of despair and hope. Not afraid to confront the roiling messiness of life, WATER FINDS A WAY will have you holding your breath until you resurface at its satisfying end.
—Belle Brett, author of Gina in the Floating World
About the Author
Meghan Perry grew up in New England and holds an MFA from Emerson College. Her work has appeared in Sycamore Review, Cold Mountain Review, and The Fourth River, among other publications. A lifelong educator, she currently directs the Writing Center at an independent secondary school on the North Shore of Massachusetts and devotes her free time to exploring wild and remote places with her family. Water Finds a Way is her first novel.