THE WAYS Of WATER: A Novel by Teresa H. Janssen – Biographies of Women, Early 20th Century, Coming of Age

In The Ways of Water, a meticulously crafted coming-of-age novel, author Teresa H. Janssen drops the reader a hundred years back in time, into the American southwest where water is scarce and the survival of the fittest is a reality.

In this place, “Life is a kettle of sadness, but along with it comes lumps of sweetness that are so exquisite… they give a girl courage to dream.”

Josie Belle Gore was only four when, in 1906, she traveled with her mother and three siblings from Texas to their new home in the Arizona desert to live the life of a railroad family.

Over time, her family wandered from desert to desert—in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico—wherever Papa’s job took them. The interplay of those harsh, yet enchanting lands of the American southwest with the human condition during the beginning of the twentieth century molded Josie’s character. Early on, she understood “…nothing on this earth comes easy. You just have to do what needs doing.”

For Josie, it seems natural and expected that after her mother dies, she, as the eldest daughter in the home, assumes responsibility for her siblings. However, when her father decides to marry her off at age fifteen to a much older man, Josie can do nothing else but run away. Drawing upon her own internal resources and wits, she makes friends, travels to new places, gains useful skills, and ultimately finds her destiny in post-WWI California.

This story flows with twists and turns much like those of a river.

Although atypical in regard to story structure, character development, and denouement, it works well. The authentic voice, rich sensory imagery, and often lyrical, poetic language create an emotional and descriptive feast. Inspired by the life of the author’s grandmother, this is a skillfully presented fictional autobiography.

In many ways, Janssen’s book echoes Mary Antin’s sentiment in The Promised Land (1911) “…We love to read the lives of the great, yet what a broken history of mankind they give, unless supplemented by the lives of the humble…”