The Well

by Catherine Chanter

"Ruth Ardingly has just been released from prison to serve out a sentence of house arrest for arson and suspected murder at her farm, The Well. Beyond its borders, some people whisper she is a witch; others a messiah. For as soon as Ruth returns to The Well, rain begins to fall on the farm. And it has not rained anywhere else in the country in over three years. Ruth and her husband Mark had moved years before from London to this ancient idyll in the hopes of starting their lives over. But then the drought began, and as the surrounding land dried up and died, and The Well grew lush and full of life, they came to see their fortune would come at a price. From the envy of their neighbors to the mandates of the government, from the fanaticism of a religious order called the Sisters of the Rose to the everyday difficulties of staying close as husband and wife, mother and child--all these forces led to a horrifying crime: the death of their seven-year-old grandson, drowned with cruel irony in one of the few ponds left in the countryside. Now back at The Well, Ruth must piece together the tragedy that shattered her marriage, her family, and her dream. For she believes her grandson's death was no accident, and that the murderer is among the people she trusted most. Alone except for her guards on a tiny green jewel in a world rapidly turning to dust, Ruth begins to confront her worst fears and learns what really happened in the dark heart of The Well" --

• ISBN10: 1476772762
• ISBN13: 9781476772769
• Publish Date: 19 May 2015 (first published 5 March 2015)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Imprint: Atria Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

Fond Of

The Well was a very interesting novel and with a water source being the focus and reminded me of Marcel Pagnol's Jean de Florette with both stories ending with drastic consequences.

The author kept this reader in suspense to learn what happened to Ruth's grandson and for that reason was a quick read

All the characters were off beat and just a tad crazy. Although they were filled with powerful emotion coming to life before one's eye.

Not Fond Of

All the Sisters, particularly Amelia annoyed me and in turn Ruth,I really wanted her to wake up, smell the coffee, and realize how crazy these women were.


Final Thoughts
Catherine Chanter's novel was a unique and different read for me. Even though I was vexed by the sisters and their cult-like religion I found The Well to be well paced and a stand up read.

[Lianne]

I received an ARC of this novel courtesy of the publishers in exchange for an honest review. This review in its entirety was originally posted at eclectictales.com: http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/2015/05/12/review-the-well/

The Well was a curious novel, the unravelling of the story slow and setting up Ruth’s story through memories and dealing with the present time (why was she under house arrest? Why did Mark lose his job? What happened to Lucien exactly?). It’s hard to explain my feelings about this novel, but it does do a good job in setting up the eerie and strange atmosphere of the story; it wasn’t what I expected. I was also expecting the fanaticism to balance out with the everyday/political/social concerns about The Well but I was surprised that the Sisters of the Rose really slipped in and became such a major part of Ruth’s life. Their presence added to the very eerie and tense atmosphere of the novel, wedging into Ruth’s life and unbalancing her already-fragile relationships further away, isolating Ruth even more.

Despite of the set-up of the story and the thematic elements of it, I found myself not really caring for the characters. I’m not sure if it’s because of the set-up of the story or how the narrative indulges a bit too much into Ruth’s memory, or the creepy nature of the Sisters and how they found their way into Ruth’s life, but I just wanted to know what happened to Lucien. The apocalyptic element of the setting also was a bit of a letdown; you know that there’s a major water shortage going on and there’s all these government policies and announcements mentioned in passing, but the Well is just so isolating, I never really got that sense of place.

Overall, The Well was an interesting read, though it wasn’t quite what I was expecting and in the end not quite the read I would’ve checked out. Nonetheless the structure of the storytelling was interesting and the question of what happened to Lucien and what led to Ruth’s house arrest kept me around to the end.