I found this book very hard to get into in the beginning no matter what I tried it just couldn't grab my interest and I found myself putting it down a lot. This book was a historical fiction book about two women. Friendship and love were the strongest themes in this book and both of them were done very well. I think it was the characters that I just couldn't relate to to much but I did like the way that it was written. The author had a way with the words that was beautiful and you don't see very often. This book was all about two women both from very different upbringings and ways of life. It was all about their interactions with things. Kind of hard to describe to much because it was almost the way that the story was written. I think that the concept was interesting but I kept getting a little confused with what was actually happening. I did like the powerful messages that this book presented and they were done very well. Overall I think that this book was well put together just wasn't the right kind of subject for me I guess, and I think that the constant point of view changes made it a little difficult to grasp even though they were nicely stated. What I did like however was the main characters they were both very strong women and it was nice to see.

A story of redemption and renewal and a story of an unlikely friendship between an African-American preacher's wife and an Amish wife. Delilah and Malachi move to Pennsylvania with their remaining children for a new start after losing their son, Carver in Alabama. Delilah blames her daughter, Sparrow, for Carver's death. Emma, an Amish wife, is harboring more than one secret from the Amish community and from her husband. Sparrow, feeling no love from her mother, ends up spending a lot of time at Emma's house and Emma becomes like a surrogate mother to her.

This story is tangled with emotions of grief, social issues, secrets, and difficult decisions. It does become a little preachy at times, but all in all a good story.

Thanks to Elizabeth Byler Younts and Thomas Nelson -- FICTION through Netgalley for an advance copy.

This is an unforgettable read....full of heartbreak and hope. Written beautifully. Immerse yourself in it. You will be glad that you did.

Wow. This was a very emotional and powerful read. I was very moved.
This book takes place in 1950's Pennsylvania where the division of race was very prevalent and boiling over. Racism was rampant and segregation was the norm. We follow two women and a young girl. The chapters alternate points of view from each. These women form an unlikely friendship and bond.

First we follow Delilah who is an African American preachers wife. When we meet her, she is a broken shell after just having lost one of her children. We also get the point of view of Delilah's oldest daughter Sparrow who is also suffering at the loss of her little brother.
Second we follow Emma who is an Amish wife and mother. Her husband is the deacon of the community and has formed a secret dependency on alcohol which is forbidden except in church. There are also other issues that you learn about throughout the book.

This book just touched my soul. I really felt for each of the characters and despite the deep suffering, there was a chance of hope and redemption. I will say that this was a hard book to get through and it is slow going in the beginning. Also, the book did get a little bit preachy which brought my rating down a bit. However, it didn't take away my enjoyment of the book. Overall, there is a lot of pain but there is also solace in the end.

Heartbreaking, beautiful, and hopeful. This beautifully written historical fiction novel shares the story of two women from very different backgrounds who find hidden pain that connects them both. This will go on my list of favorite books for 2018. Amazing book!

It’s not often that a book sets me back on my heels and makes me really think the way The Solace of Water did. The story starts in the summer of 1956 as Delilah and Malachi Evans set out with their four kids on a journey to their new home in Pennsylvania. Delilah, who describes herself as having skin ‘the same color as the soil,’ resents the move away from friends and family. She especially resents leaving the fresh grave of her young son.

Emma Mullet, mother to Johnny and wife to John, has the soul of a poet trapped in the work-worn body of an Amish woman. She, too, carries sorrows and secrets that weigh her down. When she finds young George Evans lost in the woods near her house, she returns him to his home and her life changes as the fate of the two families intersects in an odd friendship.

Sparrow Evans, eldest daughter of Delilah and Malachi, hates herself and feels responsible for her little brother’s death. She doesn’t just know she’s responsible—her mother tells her that it’s her fault her brother died. Her mother’s grief changes her in profound ways that Sparrow cannot understand or cope with.

Although told in the present, the narrators keep poking sticks at the wounds in each character’s past, drawing the reader in to their present pain. Multi-generational points of view keep the narrative fresh and accessible to readers of all ages (teen and up).

This is a book to buy and place on my ‘read it again’ shelf. If I really like someone, I’d probably let them borrow it.

This book hurts. It pierced my soul on every page and gripped me as my own world soon became interwoven with Emma, Delilah, and Sparrow. The gentle, yet straight-forward way this book was written gripped my soul and it is not a book I will soon forget.

Without the promise of redemption and salvation, this book would have been awful to me. It's why I can give it a higher rating and smile that the end brought solace. Solace in Jesus' cleansing. Wow, such a strong message of redemption!

You have to wade through this book, really. There is muck, there is heartache, there is sin, there are details. It's why it hurts. I've seen how sin so easily besets my own soul, and although I have not experienced all the pain these characters went through, I know how it feels to be dragged down by guilt. But whether we are saved or unsaved, Christ brings hope. And this hope came to life in Emma, Delilah, and Sparrow's lives when repentance came to their souls. Their stories were real and deep and I loved all three of them on the same level. There never was a moment that I wanted to read one story over another. The sweetness of their relationships are bittersweet and beautiful!

I highly recommend this book to adult young ladies. There are details of drunkness, talk of being undressed, some mentions of intimacy in marriage, some kissing, and lots and lots of pain. It is not a book for the faint-hearted, but there is hope and a happy ending.

This book might hurt, but its message is strong and real for anyone today.

THE SOLACE OF WATER by ELIZABETH YOUNTS takes place in Pennsylvania in 1956 when racial tensions were running very high in America. In the story we see interaction between an Amish family on the one hand, and a black family on the other, living in a community divided between Amish, "Englishers" and African Americans. Although there are no signs up, as there are in the South, there is still segregation between White and Black.
Malachi and Delilah Evans and their family move to Sinking Creek, where Malachi is to pastor a church, in the hope of starting afresh after losing their young son, Carver.
Delilah, or Deedee as she is called, holds her fourteen year old daughter, Sparrow, responsible for Carver's death. We see how grief takes hold of Deedee to the extent that she really cannot function properly, how she blames Sparrow relentlessly and how her unkindness leads Sparrow, who feels very guilty for not looking after her little brother, to feel unloved and worthless.
Emma Mullet, the wife of an Amish head deacon, also has a great sadness - she cannot get over losing her little daughter. She is lonely and has a hard time covering up her own secret and that of her husband, John. Their son, Johnny, is friends with the wrong crowd and Emma is afraid for her him.
These two unlikely women, unable to get on with the women in their own communities, are drawn to one another. We see their friendship growing, even as they battle to hold to the traditions of their very different churches.
Emma and Sparrow become very close. Emma sees Sparrow as her own daughter and gives her the affection that she has not received from her mother since Carver's drowning. Deedee gives Emma the affection she craves as well.
The pond on Emma's property, and water in general, play a big part in the story. As we see Emma, Deedee and Johnny helping to clean people up and put ointment on their wounds, we are reminded of how the Lord takes us, battered and filthy as we are, washes us clean, and restores us to life in Him.
The story is beautifully told and we really get insight into the struggles that the characters are going through. It is a story of friendship, forgiveness, restoration, accountability, family relationships, making the right choices and the importance of being real and honest with one another.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to the publisher, Thomas Nelson Fiction and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Elizabeth Byler Younts novel in exchange for my honest review.

Initially, I was immediately drawn to the story of Delilah Evans an African American preacher's wife grieving for the loss of her little boy. Hoping to give the family a fresh start, the family moves from Alabama to Amish county, Pennsylvania. However for daughter Sparrow and her mother nothing can erase the accident that caused the death of Carver.

Sparrow takes to inflicting self harm and her mother's icy demeanor only adds fuel to the pain. Soon the family meets their Amish neighbor Emma, who is harboring deep secrets of her own.Emma recognizes the deep pain in lonely Sparrow and offers her a source of comfort.

It was halfway through this story, where I began to lose interest. The tone of the novel switched from historical fiction, coming of age saga to a religious preachy tome of forgiveness, rebirth and renewal. I was feeling an overtly Christian message, which left me feeling uncomfortable.
Perhaps, this novel should have been marked as Christian Fiction, which would appeal to other readers.

I was excited to read this book as it looked very promising and while it was well written I found the book to be overall depressing and gloomy. I didn't really connect with any of the characters and found the whole premise to be so heartbreaking with not enough resolution and happiness at the end.
If you are up for a sadder story then it is a decent read, but be prepared for heartbreak!