AN UNIMAGINABLE APOCALYPSE.
A SCARED YOUNG GIRL.
A STUBBORN OLD WOMAN.
NEITHER WILL SURVIVE WITHOUT THE OTHER.
Pam is in her mid-seventies, widowed and hiding from the world behind a caustic sense of humour. Her health is declining, and she’s afraid of dying alone, but her most pressing concern is complaining to the council about her waterlogged garden.
When Pam’s ten-year-old neighbour, Charlotte, is foisted upon her, a tentative friendship begins to unfurl, cracking open Pam’s hard exterior.
But the puddles in the garden become pools, and then sinkholes. Nowhere seems safe. With no help coming, Pam and Charlotte can only shelter in place for so long – eventually, they know they must attempt to navigate a catastrophically altered world.
The Water Takes is a work of astonishing literary imagination with the urgent page-turning propulsion of a thriller. Full of surprises and revelations, with a sense of humanity that is never cliched or sentimental, The Water Takes will make you laugh and cry – and it will stay with you forever.
‘Made me laugh and roar and weep.’ KATE MILDENHALL
‘Dizzyingly good.’ JACQUELINE BUBLITZ
Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Imprint: SUMMIT BOOKS
Publication date: 31/03/2026
