Love like water by Meme McDonald

(15+) Sometimes you read a story that keeps reverberating long after you finish it. Love like water is one such book that has stayed with me. It's always wonderful when you read a deeply moving tale that gives you insights into many things. Cathy, the young woman, arrives in Alice Springs after the death of her fiance in a crop dusting accident. Deciding to put the past behind her, Cathy leaves her country life behind to find a new existence with her friend Margie, a fun loving city girl. When she meets Jay who is working for the local radio station, black and white worlds clash and lives change.
There are subtleties in McDonald's story - white binge drinking at Bachelor and Spinster balls, black suicide because of racism, colour bars at hotels. Not only has this compelling reading made me ponder racism, and given me a greater understanding of its effects, but it has made me think about white people's relationship with the land and the tradition of properties passing only into a son's hands. If you were a woman and wanted to stay on the land, you had to marry someone who had land, and younger sons often had to find a job away from their parents' properties.

A complex, confronting story about black and white relationships, love, friendship and country life, this is a book that is not to be missed. Highly recommended.

Pat Pledger