Trouble the Water
This luminous novel’s central events take place during the American Civil War, but this novelization of the life of Robert Smalls spans the 19th century. Smalls is mostly known for a single audacious deed, achieved when he was a slave: commandeering a Confederate warship out of Charleston harbor and surrendering it to Union forces. Around this amazing incident, author Bruff imagines the heroic life that preceded and followed it. It is told through Smalls’ point of view and enhanced by his mistress’s diary. Born into a small slaveholding community in Beaufort, South Carolina, Trouble (his basket name) experiences life as a more privileged house servant, fishing with his poetic master and playing with his owner’s children. But he also becomes a field hand, rented out as hotel staff and ship’s deck hand, rising to the level of trusted pilot. He has a mother who guides the formation of his conscience as he navigates his way through racially charged waters with a fierce compassion.
This is an extraordinary and healing gift to the literature of the South. Engaging, heartfelt and beautifully crafted, it shows the role religion played in maintaining slavery (“a scriptural institution”) and is peopled with characters that live on in the reader’s imagination. A life long-suppressed is here brought forth in light and depth and beauty. Highly recommended.
