Deborah Cook, Parted Waters (CMC 2021)
The characters’ lives are a bit banal at first. Ben is a megalomaniac from the start, and his girlfriend Melissa is such a tool, rescripting her entire life just to get Ben’s attention. Peter, the local police chief has a perfect family and goes out weekends on his boat. His wife Julia, when not soccer-momming, gardens, and their perfect teenage kids concern themselves with proms, boyfriends and exams.
The inciting incident for Ben was when his beloved childhood horse got caught in a barbed wire fence and had to be shot, prompting him to dream of a world without government controls.
Against the wishes of Julia and the Land Grant, Ben buys the old McPherson Farm, several hundred acres near the small New Hampshire town of Grantville. Now they’re felling trees and constructing buildings, all without planning permission. Scores of families have moved in, and their children aren’t going to school. Peter’s daughter Katherine has a surprising encounter with Ben, and his son Josh is befriended by the settler Rafael.
The suspense builds marvellously. First, the settlers start construction, then they join the library committee, then they attend a council meeting “just to watch”. Little by little, they take over the town. And they have guns. Ben runs for mayor, and wins without even campaigning, and soon there’s a settler winning every position in town.
Despite her misgivings, Katherine goes out with Ben. Josh has an accident, and the doctors find opiates in his system. Rafael feels guilty for supplying him and befriends a little girl, Ella, promising to teach her things since she doesn’t go to school.
The settlers’ disregard for regulations and their wanton cutting down of trees have tragic environmental and social consequences. High-minded principles give way to personal vendettas, with dire consequences for everyone.
The idea of out of towners taking over a town seems patterned after the experience in Oregon of Bhagwan (Osho). But truth may be stranger than fiction, there. The true story of Rajneeshpuram offered, as well as libertarian separatism, the additional dramas of a strange cult religion, biological terrorism, and corruption and criminality of the leaders.
In this story, in places I found the plot and phrasing to be ordinary. Staircases are always ‘rickety’, belongings are always ‘meagre’ and sportcars are always ‘flashy’. However, it’s very well written, and the characters are very good. An excellent novel, but don’t expect a happy ending.
Susie Helme 
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