In the Disappearing Water

In the Disappearing Water is a fascinating story, dark and deep, yet full of hope and longing. There is much in life that is beyond rational comprehension. Mystery resounds in silence like a solitary snow angel, the displacement of water in a bathtub, a still life image and life that refuses to be stilledócannot be packed away, domesticated or slaughtered. Love, perhaps the greatest mystery, with its comings and goings on, is carried like a bucket of stones, close to the chest, and passed along. Caroline Sulzer takes her readers to captivating places that may be hauntingly familiar, yet surprisingly other. Geraldine Cannon, author of Glad Wilderness (Plain View Press, 2008), professor, University of Maine at Fort Kent The language of In the Disappearing Water is like a precise and piercing needle. The story's hypnotic pacing, and the tentative, growing alliance of its main characters, draws a reader deeper into the meat industry and the damage done to animals and to the people who work slaughtering them. That violence inhabits the personal histories of the characters. For some, detachment is both a solution and another devastation, as in the story of a man who cannot bend to the task of love, but ultimately nothing can undercut the strength of the love shared by the book's newfound family. Nancy English, freelance writer, restaurant reviewer, and author of Maine and Maritimes Guidebooks, (Countryman Press) Caroline Sulzer writes like a dream. She's that rarity, a true wordsmith, in whose hands language takes on magical and transforming power, no matter what the subject, reminiscent of Alice Hoffman. In the Disappearing Water focuses on the inhumanity of slaughterhouses, so the images and overall effect are both lyrical and devastating. This theme weaves through the story of two young women, their friendship and childhood memories, evoked with elegant understatement. Sulzer's heroines emerge as humans we know, and the animals we encounter are spared sentimentality. This captivating novel is both a warm-hearted portrait and a hard, 21st-century look at our relationship with the animals we eat. Kitty Beer, author of What Love Can't Do (Plain View Press, 2008)