Other editions of book Sister Water

Sam Theopolis entered the Woolman household like a clown with treasures up his sleeve. He kept the absent-minded Jessie from permanently checking out of reality, and he brought an inconceivable joy to Jessie's younger daughter and grandson. But just when the current of their lives seemed smooth and untroubled, tragedy struck like a squall. With eccentric characters reminiscent of Anne Tyler, Willard takes the reader on a quirky journey of the heart.

The widowed Jessie Woolman, now in her seventies, her two married daughters, Ellen and Martha, and two grandchildren live in Ann Arbor, where the family owns a museum that harbors a meandering stream and historical artifacts of the region bounded by the rivers. Just as Jessie's aging mind begins to wander, Ellen's husband dies in a car accident and the Woolman family begins a new journey led by two very different men: Harvey Mack, a developer with an eye on the Woolman property and the grieving Ellen, and Sam Theopolis, a mystic hired to care for Jessie. Sam becomes both Harvey's rival and a healing presence for the family until a crisis descends and he, too, needs the protection of the Woolmans' innocent belief in the saving power of love. Combining sorrow and grief with considerable light-hearted wit and eccentric characters, Sister Water is a novel that will reach old and young readers alike. Through her lyrical prose, author Nancy Willard draws on the rich style of magical realism to create a narrative flow that is at once powerful and seductive. Important to the Landscapes of Childhood series, this novel raises significant questions about the state of childhood and how that state affects adult sensibilities.

"Heavenly...Marvelous...Uplifting...A kind of miracle...A magical web of language that both seduces with poetic power and moves the heart."PEOPLEJessie Woolman and her family are suddenly faced with unforseen tragedy. Her mind is beginning to wander, and Ellen, her newly widowed daugher is being pursued by a mercenary man, Harvey Mack. Enter Sam Theopolis. Hired to care for Jessie, he becomes both Harvey's rival and a healing presence for all. That is, until crisis descends, and he, too, needs the protection of their innocent belief in the salvation of love....From the Paperback edition.

"Heavenly...Marvelous...Uplifting...A kind of miracle...A magical web of language that both seduces with poetic power and moves the heart."PEOPLEJessie Woolman and her family are suddenly faced with unforseen tragedy. Her mind is beginning to wander, and Ellen, her newly widowed daugher is being pursued by a mercenary man, Harvey Mack. Enter Sam Theopolis. Hired to care for Jessie, he becomes both Harvey's rival and a healing presence for all. That is, until crisis descends, and he, too, needs the protection of their innocent belief in the salvation of love....

Sister Water by Nancy Willard. Narrated by George Guidall. 93409 (6 cassettes/8 hours). Copyright 1993 by Nancy Willard. P 1993 Recorded Books, Inc. Unabridged. ISBN 1-55690-913-6. "Sometimes angels visit with more mayhem than mercy under their wings. Enter Sam Theopolis, a pony-tailed New Ager who waits tables in an Ann Arbor restaurant called the Buddha Uproar Cafe. Sam quotes Black Elk, reads Sanskrit, and has a dicey history of death by drowning. It is he that the Woolman sisters, Martha and Ellen, have chosen as the caretaker for their decidedly loony mother Jessie. Sam's only recommendation is that he once saved a 12-year-old car from death by lethal injection. Sam is a cosmic clown with treasures up his sleeve. He keeps an absent-minded Jessie from permanently checking out of reality, and brings a healthy innocence back to the jaded Woolman household. Ellen, a recent widow, and her troubled young son, Stevie, begin to find Sam's strange spiritual undercurrents vaguely comforting. But just when the water seems smooth and serence, and the family on the road to recovery, tragedy strikes like a winter squall. With quirky characters reminiscent of Anne Tyler, and a skillful mixing of the magical with the mundane, this off-beat novel is guaranteed to resonate in the mind long after it is finished. "...seduces with poetic power and moves the heart."---People"! (from backcase)

"Heavenly...Marvelous...Uplifting...A kind of miracle...A magical web of language that both seduces with poetic power and moves the heart."PEOPLEJessie Woolman and her family are suddenly faced with unforseen tragedy. Her mind is beginning to wander, and Ellen, her newly widowed daugher is being pursued by a mercenary man, Harvey Mack. Enter Sam Theopolis. Hired to care for Jessie, he becomes both Harvey's rival and a healing presence for all. That is, until crisis descends, and he, too, needs the protection of their innocent belief in the salvation of love....From the Paperback edition.