Sweet Water: Praise & Press

PRAISE & Press

  • Literary Guild Alternate selection

  • Barnes and Noble Discover Award finalist

  • Readers Digest Condensed Book

  • Highly Recommended, Library Journal

  • “Kline keeps us glued to the page.” —Newsday

  • “A compelling psychological study of bitterness, guilt and fear.” —Atlanta Journal-Constitution

  • ”Kline’s first novel is a captivating read. In alternating sections told from their respective points of view, Cassie and her about the tragedy that marks both of their lives. Kline perfectly renders each woman’s voice: Cassie’s, probing and often uncertain, propels the narrative and creates an appropriate level of psychological suspense; the grandmother’s quavers with the weight of memory as Cassie’s search forces her beyond family myth to a painful and perhaps dangerous truth. The result is a powerful, immensely readable tale of loyalty and betrayal, family and memory, made fresh by Kline’s often beautiful and always lucid prose.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  • “Kline blends satisfying storytelling skills with psychological chills. This book is filled with secrets – as well as love, hate, revenge, and guilt. Highly recommended.” —Library Journal (Named “One of the Most Promising New Novelists of the Year”)

  • “The family arena, so rich in emotions and dramatic possibilities, is the setting, and Sweet Water, with its dark secrets and charged atmosphere, could easily have gone over the top. But Kline skirts the pitfalls of her material nicely. Cassie’s natural voice sets the tone. A thoughtful, humorous, believable woman, she holds our attention until the end.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer

  • “Sweet Water is one of those books that is a discovery. I started it because it’s set in Sweetwater, Tennessee. I read it through because it sings … The novel shifts back and forth between the voices of Cassie and her grandmother Clyde, and Clyde’s voice flows like music … A story of the small-town South that rings with poetry and truth.” —Knoxville News Sentinel

  • “An impressive first novel.” —Orlando Sentinel

  • “What makes Christina Baker Kline’s first novel, Sweet Water, go is Cassie’s persistent uncovering of family secrets … Kline’s use of Cassie and Clyde as alternating narrators give the story added dimension, the young woman’s eager pursuit of the facts juxtaposed nicely against the old woman’s bitter retrospectives. Kline keeps us glued to the page.” —Boston Globe

  • “Evocative writing.” —New York Times Book Review