THE PLOT: The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh is a literary novel about a family who live on a remote island. Sisters Grace, Lia and Sky are raised in an abandoned hotel beside a poisoned sea. The world is contaminated and their parents have isolated the girls to keep them safe. But everything they think they know about safety is challenged when three strange men wash up ashore.

SUMMARY: Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2018, this beautifully written novel pairs haunting descriptions of the natural world with intimate character studies to create a heavy, visceral atmosphere. Tailor-made for an artsy film adaptation, I can already picture the longing stares and cinematic coastal shots. That said, don’t go in expecting a traditional dystopian page-turner. At 250 pages, it’s a “quiet” story that relies on power imbalances and relationship dynamics. It avoids typical plot escalations and twists, leaving several threads unresolved. This was a bit frustrating because I was ended with more questions than answers. So, while I was deeply invested in the characters, the lack of a final “spark” keeps this a four-star rating for me.

GOOD BITS: On the surface this book is about how men inflict violence on women. This resonated with me in the big and little injustices that littered the novel, many of which felt familiar to my own experiences. Yet I believe this sinister, dreamlike book is truly about restraint and desire. The main characters, Grace and Lia, are juxtaposed against each other in their reaction to the men. Grace, the favoured child, is aloof – wary of the men’s impact on their way of life. Lia, the least favoured child, is desperate for love – using her sexuality to command the attention that her family has been unable to provide. This tension sits at the heart of the novel and it is less about the actions of the men than how women react to the male gaze. Yet, ultimately both reactions are not enough to keep the girls safe, the only means of survival is expressing (not suppressing) female anger.

NOT SO GOOD BITS: Sometimes this book felt like style over substance. The writing was so good in creating an atmosphere, I kept waiting for the plot developments to meet that calibre. I wanted to learn more about the contaminated world and the backstories of their parents. I wanted to know more about the “treatments” and where the women came from. Ultimately, I wanted a plot escalation or twist that linked into the world-building and revealed more depth about the situation.

OVERALL: I’d recommend this book to fans of ‘The Virgin Suicides’ by Jeffrey Eugenides, ‘Sisters’ by Daisy Johnson, and ‘The Girls’ by Emma Cline. If you’re looking for a dark, primal, literary novel, this is well-worth picking up a copy. You can purchase this book (with a discount) and support @aminasbookshelf via my bookshop.org. affiliate link.