Waiting for Still Water book cover

Waiting for Still Water

These are the rules at foster mother Amelia’s farm—the rules that saved Rachel when she first came to stay at Walton Lake as a troubled girl. Now, after a horrifying crisis at work, Rachel has run back to the farm again.

But she doesn’t find the peace she’s hoping for. There are new fostered teens at the farm with their own demons, and the sprawling family she became a part of at Amelia’s farm seems to be full of heartbreak and worry.

There’s Crystal, grieving her twin sister. Jodie and Zac are struggling to bring a pregnancy to term. Kate is reeling from her mother’s abandonment.

And Amelia, stalwart and dependable and loving Amelia, their glue, has become worryingly forgetful.

A sweeping story of love and redemption, Waiting for Still Water will delight fans of Maeve Binchy and Lesley Crewe.

While there appears to be plenty of emotional storylines occurring (and I haven’t touched on them all), the narrative is never convoluted nor challenging to follow. Ms. White deliberately lets the story unfurl, and the backstories of each character are revealed in due time. Rachel appears to have returned at the right moment for her own peace of mind and she also acts as the catalyst for the story, uniting everyone and in the process, assists them to cope as well finding what she came back to Amelia’s for. Indeed, Waiting for Still Water comes full circle and as such is a satisfying and captivating read for any age, much like her 2015 book The Memory Chair was.

James Fisher

Miramichi Reader