Joining the tradition of great American novels THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, 12 YEARS A SLAVE and BELOVED, THE SWEETNESS OF WATER evokes the realities of hard-won freedom and conjures a story of humanity against all the odds. In the dying days of the American Civil War, newly freed brothers Landry and Prentiss find themselves cast into the world with barely enough to survive. Forced to hide out in the woods near their former Georgian plantation, they're soon discovered by the land's owner, George Walker, a man still reeling from the loss of his son in the war. After a shaky start, the men reach an agreement to live and work on the land, bringing a brief period of peace to the farm. But this sanctuary survives on a knife's edge, and the inhabitants of the nearest town are furious to hear of the alliance that has formed only a few miles away. Balancing beauty and horror throughout, Nathan Harris conjures a time of violence and danger with an artist's precision, while asking how we retain our humanity in the face of blind hatred.