So much water

R. Brett Stirling
Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:46:42 PDT

At the heart of 'So much water' is twenty-six year old Elizabeth, a woman who is searching for her father and herself. The novel explores the inevitability of heredity as Elizabeth tries to come to grips with the truth of her mother's eighteen-year-old murder and her father's role in the crime. Elizabeth drives from Ohio where she has lived since the murder to Connecticut where the crime took place. The story is told through a limited omniscient narrator who focuses on Elizabeth and her father, Colin. Interrupting the main narrative are four journal entries from Elizabeth's mother and a final entry from Elizabeth herself. There are things in people's lives they feel should have control over. They plan. They organize their lives. They take precautions and proceed carefully. The world, however, is beyond their intentions. Only after reconciling this discrepancy can characters, including Elizabeth, continue living.