Summary and Reviews of Water, Carry Me by Thomas Moran

Water, Carry Me by Thomas Moran

Water, Carry Me

A Love Story

by Thomas Moran
  • Critics' Consensus (3):
  • First Published:
  • Feb 1, 2000, 269 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Mar 2001, 270 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

The breathtaking love story of a young woman's betrayal, a haunting portrait of the extraordinary beauty and inexorable violence of a divided Ireland.

In what will surely be his most acclaimed novel yet, Moran carries us to the harbor towns of southern Ireland. Una Moss is a bright, young medical student struggling for independence from the world of her family's secret loyalties. Aidan Ferrel is the man who wins her love, the stranger she chooses to trust. Water, Carry Me is the story of a singular love pitted against political passion--the chronicle of a young woman's journey from innocence to betrayal, across the vivid brightness and darkness that is the heartbreaking landscape of her beloved Ireland.

"Thomas Moran . . . can immerse you utterly in whatever moment he chooses to describe." --The New York Times Book Review

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

Kirkus Reviews
The horror of Irelands never-ending Troubles assumes human form in this vividly dramatic (if ill-proportioned) third novel by the versatile Moran....The very real strengths here are Morans forceful characterizations of the sentient, credibly intelligent Una and the intriguing, soft-spoken Aidan. But the story that Moran plunges his characters into is overfamiliar and marred by an ending that rushes Una to judgment, leaving the sense that there must be even more to her tale than weve been told.

Library Journal
This is a well-crafted, haunting tale filled with very human characters caught in a web much bigger than themselves.

Publishers Weekly
[The] swift-moving narrative is sure to carry the reader in its currents.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Water, Carry Me, try these:

  • Trouble the Living jacket

    Trouble the Living

    by Francesca McDonnell Capossela

    Published 2023

    About this book

    From Northern Ireland to Southern California and back―a mother and daughter confront the violence of the past in an enthralling novel about the possibility of love and redemption during the most transforming and unsettled times.

  • Factory Girls jacket

    Factory Girls

    by Michelle Gallen

    Published 2022

    About this book

    More by this author

    A funny, fierce, and unforgettable read about a young woman working a summer job in a shirt factory in Northern Ireland, while tensions rise both inside and outside the factory walls.

We have 6 read-alikes for Water, Carry Me, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Thomas Moran
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
Before Dorothy
by Hazel Gaynor
Before Oz, Aunt Em leaves Chicago for Kansas in a powerful tale of courage, change, and new beginnings by Hazel Gaynor.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    The Whyte Python World Tour
    by Travis Kennedy

    Rikki Thunder, drummer for '80s metal band Whyte Python, is on the verge of fame, love—and a spy mission he didn’t expect.

  • Book Jacket

    The Original
    by Nell Stevens

    In a grand English country house in 1899, an aspiring art forger must unravel whether the man claiming to be her long-lost cousin is an impostor.

  • Book Jacket

    Angelica
    by Molly Beer

    A women-centric view of revolution through the life of Angelica Schuyler Church, Alexander Hamilton's influential sister-in-law.

Who Said...

I have lost all sense of home, having moved about so much. It means to me now only that place where the books are ...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

E H L the B

and be entered to win..