![]() “You always tryin’ to sneak one by me, ain’t you,” Prentiss said. Landry lay on the bed of the forest, his head upon a log. He kneaded each of Landry’s toes, then the sole, then the heel, digging his thumbs so deep into his left foot that he could see it drained white before the blood brought back its color. Prentiss held his brother’s feet in his lap. The beatings Landry suffered so traumatized him that he no longer speaks, but the pair get a second chance, as described in the third chapter of The Sweetness of Water. Prentiss and Landry are brothers who grew up on a plantation and watched as their mother got sold off to another "owner" while they remained. Plantation owners have been forced to free the enslaved people who have been working their land, tending their homes, minding their children-and frequently enduring violent abuse. Like so many other parts of the country, Old Ox has been torn apart by the Civil War, which is winding down as the novel opens. ![]() Old Ox, Georgia, is the fictional town in which debut novelist Nathan Harris has set The Sweetness of Water. ![]()
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