"Before this decisive night, I'd not fully appreciated the subtle line between inspiration and insanity. But now, with all our lives at risk, I found myself navigating that most perilous edge . . . " Inspired by the life of an unsung American hero and slave, Trouble the Water navigates the rich tributaries of courage, betrayal, and redemption. In his inspiring journey, Robert Smalls witnesses great privilege and suffering alongside his owner's daughter and the dangerous son of a firebrand secessionist. At the age of twelve, he's sent to work in Charleston, where he loads ships and learns to pilot a cotton steamer. When the Civil War erupts and his cotton steamer becomes a confederate warship, Robert seizes the opportunity to pursue freedom for himself and the people he loves.
Publisher: Koehler Books
Original Binding: Paperback
Pages: 348 pages
ISBN-10: 1633938077
Item Weight: 1.12 lbs
Dimensions: 6.0 x 0.78 x 9.0 inches
Customer Reviews: 4 out of 5 stars 501 to 1,000 ratings
"Trouble the Water may become a Carolina classic." - Lawrence S. Rowland, author ofThe History of Beaufort County, South Carolina, and distinguished professor emeritus, University of South Carolina Beaufort
"I loved returning to the low country, and my God, that writing toward the end about the tides: 'When the tide is out, all the way out, you can smell creation . . .' That passage made me breathless." - Robin Oliveira, author of New York Times bestseller My Name is Mary Suter
"Debut author Rebecca Bruff has made her mark with this exceptional examination of family, freedom, and what it really means to fight for the light." - Julie Cantrell, New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of Perennials
"There are white stories and there are black stories. Rarely do we encounter a book that so beautifully weaves the two into an inspirational American story." -Jonathan Odell, author of The Healing and Miss Hazel and the Rosa Parks League
Rebecca Bruff heard the undertold story of Robert Smalls on her first visit to South Carolina. She was so captivated that she left her job and moved across the country to research and write this novel. Bruff earned her bachelor's degree in education at Texas A&M and a master's and doctorate in theology at Southern Methodist University. In 2017, she was a scholarship recipient for the prestigious Key West Literary Seminar. She volunteers at the Pat Conroy Literary Center in Beaufort, South Carolina. She's published non-fiction, plays a little tennis, travels when she can, and loves life in the lowcountry with her husband and an exuberant golden retriever.
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