Water Finds a Way

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Water Finds a Way

Can coming home bring redemption? Or at least a measure of peace? Recently released from prison, Blake Alvares returns to the only place she ever felt safe, the now derelict Maine town in which she harbored as a teen. Determined to conceal her secrets and losses, she soon finds herself dragged into others’ lives when she takes a job on a boat owned by a notorious young lobsterman.

Leland Savard is nearly broke, trying to support himself and 9-year-old Quinnie as he wrestles with a dangerous family legacy. Though his choice to hire Blake raises local eyebrows, Leland and those around Blake are quickly surprised and jarred by how much they come to rely on her. At the same time, Blake stumbles into love from unexpected places. When Leland’s rash actions place her and Quinnie in peril, Blake feels forced to run again–only to discover the past is never more than a few steps behind her. On her quest for home, Blake must confront a daunting question: where does she belong?

This is a book for readers who enjoy the believable eccentricity a small town offers. And for those who believe in the redemption of the sea and hard work.

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Advance Praise for Water Finds a Way

“Full of grit and atmosphere, suspense and feeling — a powerful and promising debut.”

Kirkus Reviews

“Vivid… poignant… Perry crafts the action with a cinematic scope.”

Publishers Weekly

“There’s a terrific cinematic quality that flows through the story, and readers will really get a feel for the lives of fishermen in Maine.”

Condé Nast Traveler

“What a fiercely original novel! I couldn’t help but fall in love with just-out-of-prison Blake and troubled dad and lobsterman Leland, who hires her on as his apprentice.

About trying to outrun our fractured lives and find our truest selves, and about facing our pasts to find our futures, this powerful read is truly a thoughtful stunner about where we find our place in the world—and our person.”

Caroline Leavitt

Author of Pictures of You and Days of Wonder

“In this gripping debut novel, Perry navigates one woman’s reckoning with unspeakable trauma and her will to move beyond the demons of her past. With vivid storytelling and evocative prose, Perry draws readers into the heart of a Maine fishing village, where struggles abound, and the sea both sustains and threatens.

Despite dark turns, Water Finds a Way is a tale of resilience and hope. Long after the final page is turned, Perry’s narrative continues to resonate, offering a poignant testament to the power of human connection, the strength of community, and the healing forces of nature.”

Gigi Georges

Author of Downeast: Five Maine Girls and the Unseen Story of Rural America

“This beautiful debut is a must-read for anyone who craves richly-hewn characters, a stunning setting, and a story that grips you until the very end. Set in a small town on the coast of Maine, the story follows Blake, a woman who has built a tough exterior persona to survive a life of unspeakable trauma. When she is released from prison, she makes her way back to her adopted home by the sea in Maine where she must face one of the most painful chapters of her life. There, she connects with two families who have complicated pasts. Blake becomes an integral part of their lives and a source of healing for those who are closest to her. But when her darkest secrets are revealed, her right to remain is challenged.

Every character Meghan Perry has created feels undeniably real. From their flaws and triumphs to their mistakes and breakthroughs, they will captivate you from the first page and stay with you until long after you finish reading.”

Elizabeth de Veer

Author of The Ocean in Winter

“Meghan Perry paints the weathered landscape of a small coastal Maine town and its hard-knock world of lobster fishing in a way that’s moody, earth-toned, nuanced, and completely immersive. This is a story of love that sprouts from dark crevices inside tortured people, for whom, despite or because of their brokenness, we quickly come to care.

Bringing to mind Jane Austen’s Persuasion with its unbridled romanticism of enduring injustice on the way to forgiveness, Water Finds a Way disturbs and soothes, breaks and mends our hearts, and reminds us to look beneath appearances for the light of the human soul.”

River Adams

Author of The Light of Seven Days

“Much like the alternately desolate and starkly beautiful Northern Maine coast to which ex-con Blake returns for a new start, Meghan Perry’s riveting and richly observed debut takes us on a serpentine journey of despair and hope.

Not afraid to confront the roiling messiness of life, Water Finds a Way, will have you holding your breath until you resurface at its satisfying end.”

Belle Brett

Author of Gina in the Floating World

“One feels tugs of Faulkner in the array of characters who people this book…We feel Blake’s catalytic presence and watch as she joins a world of hardscrabble commercial fishing and the walking ghosts energized by her presence.

This writer knows her turf—and surf—and makes an entire microcosmic world vibrate (and sometimes crack and shatter) on the way to truth and redemption. A great read.”

Frank Xavier Gaspar

Author of Leaving Pico and Stealing Fatima

The Perfect Pick for Your Book Club!

Want to introduce Water Finds a Way to your book club?

Download this discussion guide to inspire conversation!
This guide offers sixteen different questions which can support clubs reading and discussing the book one-to-two chapters at a time AND/OR clubs reading and discussing it all at once.

Want a live, virtual interview or Q&A session with the author?
Reach out to Meghan Perry to schedule time with your book club.

Welcome to Raker Harbor!

Perched on a rocky peninsula jutting into the North Atlantic, the fictional town of Raker Harbor is an amalgam of remote, real-life fishing villages in Downeast Maine.

A cluster of weathered buildings, a humble restaurant, and an active pier compose the town proper. At its outskirts, threaded by saltwater marsh, sit an array of capes and small homes where fishermen, including the Hayes family, reside. Further out still: a scattering of farms, some working, most defunct.

And nestled along Raker’s most scenic vistas sit the more ostentatious, seasonal residences of people from away. This windy, remote landscape sculpts each of the characters from Water Finds a Way. It abounds with natural beauty but also with many of the challenges that pervade rural America today.

While some characters find Raker a refuge, others perceive it as a trap, but all of them must reconcile with the role they play within its environment.