Friday 12 June 2020

Watershed by Doreen Vanderstoop

There is a new genre in writing now. Actually, it's probably been around for a few years but I heard it for the first time when I started reading  Watershed by Canadian author Doreen Vanderstoop. It's called Cli-Fi, short for climate fiction with stories set in the future with the world devastated from climate change.

In Watershed, water is now the most precious resource in Alberta. With the glaciers gone, the province's oil and gas pipelines are being converted to water pipelines. Tensions are high as "water terrorists" threaten to violently cut off the water supply. Against this precarious backdrop, Willa desperately tries to keep her family's failing goat farm afloat.

But when her son, Daniel, goes to work for the water corporation whose high-priced commodity is putting the farm out of business, Willa is stunned. A string of betrayals fractures the family, potentially beyond repair. Willa feels herself losing everything that she values most - her farm, her son, her past, even her very grip on reality. Is there any way to put the pieces back together?

I really enjoyed this book which had different story lines running through it. Although it currently is fiction, with the way the world is going, could in the books time frame, thirty years from now, could come true. An interesting story which makes you think of our future.

About Doreen Vanderstoop 


Doreen's short fiction has appeared in Prairie Fire Magazine and online at Montreal Serai, prairiejournal.org, epiphmag.com, and Alexandra Writers' Centre, among others. Doreen's first novel, Watershed, was published by Freehand Books and released on May 1, 2020. Doreen is a member of Alexandra Writers Centre Society, Writers' Guild of Alberta and the Canadian Authors Association.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for your review, Gord! Glad you enjoyed Watershed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're welcome. Looking forward to the next book Doreen writes.

    ReplyDelete