Water Man (novel)

Water Man

ISBN		0330273981
Preceded by	Flynn
Followed by	The Slap

Water Man is a 1993 novel by Australian novelist Roger McDonald.^[1]

Plot summary

The "water man" of the book's title is a

—or rather two water diviners: one working on an Australian station in 1939 and the other working the same property 50 years later. Events surrounding the first divining echo down the years to the second, when tensions left unresolved re-emerge and engulf a new set of characters.

Notes

• Dedication: When bright things tarnish he will be truly gone. Then you will know him.

Reviews

Reviewing the novel in The Canberra Times Alan Gould noted: "Perhaps the most persistent theme in McDonald's work is that of the personality unfamiliar with itself; able to scrutinise nature and fellow human beings with great, and often lyrical particularity, but never quite at ease with either, never quite self-possessed. With its gentle use of fable, with its unobtrusive underpinnings in Jungian psychology, Water Man provides an intriguing, readable, progress to that theme."^[2]

Awards and nominations

• 1994 shortlisted
  Miles Franklin Literary Award^[3]

References