Women out of Water

“I am a woman, and if there’s one thing I know, I have the strength that comes to all of us in our darkest hour."

An eighty-five-year-old woman tracks a rogue stallion through the bush. A musician contemplates death the night before her big break. A prostitute learns everything about a man from the way he walks behind her. A mother leaves her war-torn home to seek safety for her daughter. A winemaker sends her young son into the night in search of help. A girl begs for bread.

In ten mesmerizing stories set primarily in South Africa, Sally Cranswick explores the resourcefulness and resilience that is inheritance to all women. With adept observation and haunting lyricism, Cranswick zooms in close and refuses to look away—exposing truths we will each recognize in our bones.