Three Views Of Crystal Water

Listen as author Katherine Govier discusses the history and context behind the writing of Three Views of Crystal Water in this series of exclusive videos.
In this lucid and exotic tale, Katherine Govier delves into the19th-century pearl rush. Greed for the unearthly luster drove sea-farers toscour the ocean floor until the plunder all but destroyed the divers, the oysterbeds and the pearl itself. But on a small island off the coast of Japan, a mantamed the oysters, learning to create pearls at will.
Three Views of Crystal Water is told by the Canadian girlVera, who comes of age amongst the brave women divers of Japan. Nurtured by the amacommunity, she learns to dive 45 feet with a single breath. She also findsher first lover. In the lives of the simple fisherfolk, loyalty is everything.But Vera is an outsider, and when war is declared in Europe, she must go home toVancouver. In the murky streets of Gastown, Vera comes to understand thepearl-lust that has divided the men in her family. But it is years later whenshe discovers what catastrophes war has brought to her friends, and whatdeliverance to her young lover, and herself.
Like the divers it so compellingly portrays, Three Views ofCrystal Water penetrates far below life’s surface. Part fable, parthistory and entirely original, this novel is infused by Govier’s profoundreflections on natureboth earthly and human.

Literature & Fiction

GOVIER, Katherine

Literary

HarperCollins, Publishers

"Everyone lives on Brunswick Avenue sooner orlater." So begins Fables of Brunswick Avenue,Katherine Govier’s first collection of short stories, which found her anaudience that has expanded with each subsequent book.The 16 stories in this collection capture turning points in thelives of characters who have migrated to the city, and ended upas everyoneinevitably doeson Brunswick Avenue. A restaurateur in "The Garden"collects look-alike waitresses but discovers that, as one, they resist hisadvances. In "Responding to Pain," a woman rescues a suicidal friend,only to realize that she is angry enough to kill her. And in "BrunswickAvenue," a writer comes to understand that her neighbourhood isprovisional, and in its draft stages, like her life. Infused with Govier’smagical ability to conjure time and place, Fables of Brunswick Avenue isabout starting out, and starting over.

Fables Of Brunswick Avenue

Harper-perennial

Vera Lowinger Drew is the last of a pearling dynasty. When she is left motherless,her only refuge is in Japan with her grandfather’s young mistress, amongthe legendary ama women divers. With their age-old strength to guide her, Veracomes into her own―until World War II turns her friends into “the enemy.”Three Views of Crystal Water crosses generations and continents with a story oflove, war and the quest for the lustrous, elusive pearl.
This Perennial edition of Katherine Govier’s powerful novel is enhanced with aP.S. section featuring pearl lore, and historical and biographical detail.

A lost voice of old Japan reclaims her rightful place inhistory in this breathtaking work of imagination and scholarship from award-winning and internationally acclaimedauthor Katherine Govier. In the evocative taleof 19th century Tokyo, The Printmaker’sDaughter delivers an enthrallingtale of one of the world’s great unknown artists: Oei,the mysterious daughter of master printmaker Hokusai, painter of the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. In a novel that willresonate with readers of Tracy Chevalier’s Girlwith a Pearl Earring, Lisa See’s SnowFlower and the Secret Fan, and David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet,the sights and sensations of an exotic, bygone era form the richly captivatingbackdrop for an intimate, finely wrought story of daughterhood and duty, artand authorship, the immortality of creation and the anonymity of history.

The Printmaker's Daughter: A Novel

United States

Joan Sincere is a thirty-year-old ex-ballerina and stripper whose pride in her training and her craft has brought her to a turning point in her life

Going Through the Motions: A Novel

St Martins Pr

Hearts of flame

Viking/Penguin

The Truth Teller

Random House Canada

Angel Walk [paperback] Govier, Katherine [Jan 01, 2000]

Angel Walk

World Literature

Vintage Canada

Creation

Thorndike Pr

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by GOVIER, Katherine. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by GOVIER, Katherine

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by GOVIER, Katherine. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Three Views Of Crystal Water

Fables Of Brunswick Avenue

Three Views Of Crystal Water

The Printmaker's Daughter: A Novel

Going Through the Motions: A Novel

Hearts of flame

The Truth Teller

Angel Walk

Creation

Creation