She stole a look at the man in the driver’s seat. Sometimes, Jay seemed as familiar as her own self. Other times he was as different as another language.
When her friend Margie suggests they seek adventure in Alice Springs, Cathy agrees. It’s been ten months since her fiancé was killed and there is no future for her on the station where she grew up. But it’s a long way from cattle country to Alice Springs, and Cathy isn’t used to change. Is this place where everything is so different really the place for her?
Margie, too, finds it hard. She’s a city girl looking for fun and adventure, but perhaps what she really wants is love and acceptance.
Jay, too, has come to Alice Springs looking for change. He’s working as a dj for the local radio station, but he’s a saltwater man and here in the desert it’s even harder than usual for him to belong. When he and Sarah meet, neither can remain unchanged.
Love Like Water is in places a story about love, but it is much more than a love story. Cathy and Jay face the challenges of white girl meets black boy but each must also deal with much deeper issues unique to themselves – Cathy’s search for a purpose in life and Jay’s search for self. Margie must cope with facing life as she’s never seen it, and with a friend who seems increasingly hard to understand. What is common to all three is a search for identity.
A thought provoking, far-reaching tale.
Love Like Water, by Meme McDonald
Allen & Unwin, 2007