This is a love story that highlights the emotional ramifications of slavery. The novel focuses on Young Hiram Walker who was born into bondage and escaped through a mysterious power. When his mother was sold away Hiram was a young boy and he lost all memory of her. Yet, he was gifted with a water-driven power called Conduction, which enabled him to travel great distances. Years later, Hiram almost drowns in a river and this power saves his life. This life or death facing moment fuels him with an urgent desire to escape & venture into the unknown. Along his journey from Virginian plantations to the north via the Underground Railroad, he meets legendary people such as William Still and Harriet Tubman.
In this historical fiction Coates expresses the pain, hurt and scars caused by slavery and the tremendous toll it took on families - psychologically, mentally and physically. “This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children—the violent and capricious separation of families—and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today’s most exciting thinkers and writers, The Water Dancer is a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.” (oneworldlit.com)
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