The Sweetness of Water (Oprah's Book Club)
by Nathan Harris, William DeMeritt
Narrated by William DeMeritt
Why Listen to This Audiobook?
A debut novel that got Booker longlisted — and DeMeritt's narration makes you feel every quiet devastation of Reconstruction-era Georgia.
- Great if you want: literary historical fiction about grief, freedom, and unlikely bonds
- Listening experience: slow and meditative — rewards patience, not plot-chasers
- Narration: DeMeritt's understated warmth perfectly matches Harris's restrained prose
- Skip if: you prefer momentum and plot over atmosphere and interiority
Listen to The Sweetness of Water (Oprah's Book Club) on Audible →
About This Audiobook
In the final days of the Civil War in Georgia, brothers Prentiss and Landry, freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, find shelter and work at the farm of George Walker and his grieving wife Isabelle, who lost their son to the war. Nathan Harris's debut novel follows these parallel lives, along with a secret romance between two Confederate soldiers whose exposure will set off a chain of violence, through the brutal early days of Reconstruction in a small Georgia town. The Sweetness of Water won the Goodreads Choice Award for both Historical Fiction and Debut Novel.
William DeMeritt's narration gives the novel its full emotional range, moving between the brothers' guarded hope, the Walkers' grief, and the simmering violence of the surrounding community with equal authority. His Southern register is precise without caricature, and his handling of the novel's more devastating sequences honors them without sensationalizing them. At just over twelve hours, this is a powerful, beautifully rendered listen.
