That Water, Those Rocks: (A Novel) (Western Literature Series)

For several generations, Katharine Haake's family has been intimately linked with the landscape and history of far-northern California. In That Water, Those Rocks, she offers a brilliant novel that interlaces autobiographical writing, natural history, and reflections on the craft of writing itself. Shasta Dam, the graceful, curved centerpiece of California's Central Valley Project, lies at the heart of this multi-layered work. The dam's construction, and the impact of its presence, becomes the obsession and occupation for all of Haake's characters.

Haake's beautifully poetic prose crosses the boundaries of conventional fiction, assembling ways of knowing from several disciplines, moving effortlessly from the pragmatic world of dam engineers to a rich meditation on our relationship to place, to memory, to family, and to the larger human community. Hers is a unique voice, sensitive to the nuances of natural things and the quiet ways that humans bond to, hurt, and love both their physical place and each other.