Bodies of Water by T. Greenwood | Book Review

“In 1960, Billie Valentine is a young housewife living in a sleepy Massachusetts suburb, treading water in a dull marriage and caring for two adopted daughters. Summers spent with the girls at their lakeside camp in Vermont are her one escape–from her husband’s demands, from days consumed by household drudgery, and from the nagging suspicion that life was supposed to hold something different.

Then a new family moves in across the street. Ted and Eva Wilson have three children and a fourth on the way, and their arrival reignites long-buried feelings in Billie. The affair that follows offers a solace Billie has never known, until her secret is revealed and both families are wrenched apart in the tragic aftermath.

Fifty years later, Ted and Eva’s son, Johnny, contacts an elderly but still spry Billie, entreating her to return east to meet with him. Once there, Billie finally learns the surprising truth about what was lost, and what still remains, of those joyful, momentous summers.

In this deeply tender novel, T. Greenwood weaves deftly between the past and present to create a poignant and wonderfully moving story of friendship, the resonance of memories, and the love that keeps us afloat.”

What an amazing book. I have been completely engrossed by T. Greenwood’s writing the last few weeks, this being her third novel I have read in a row. Her detailed characters and ability to draw you into her scenes make her books so powerful.

Bodies of Water was such a moving story about love during a time when if it didn’t fit inside a certain box, it was forbidden. This was the love story of two women, Billie, and Eva, that started in the 1960s. This book is narrated by Billie and alternates by her in the present (when she was in her 80s) and going back in time. It was raw and heartbreaking and also just breathtakingly beautiful. The story was depicted so accurately for the times and showed both the personal and financial circumstances that altered the path of their story in such a powerful way. It covered so many issues including domestic violence, loss, friendship, alcoholism, infertility, marriage, and motherhood. I didn’t want this one to end and it is a book that will stick with me for a long time.