“The Waterbearers is one of the most beautiful and truthful books I’ve ever read. Bonét tells the whole history of this country through the relationships of and between Black mothers and daughters. It is as intimate and tender as it is vast and stormy. Unforgettable.”
“Sasha Bonét’s tale is a tale of evolution and hope– a moving forward while looking back at generations of women who have sought something better for themselves, their families, and ultimately, the worlds that sought to define them. I have been waiting to read this story for a very long time.”
“The Waterbearers is magnificent in its nimble agility. People are elevated to wonders, if that is still possible, and Sasha Bonét dances on our hearts in this classic creation of will and wit.
Electrifying...Wow. ”
“At once propulsive and tender, Sasha Bonét’s The Waterbearers is an epic love song and a remarkable ballad of generations. By the end of this book, I knew I held in my hands on a new American classic, and that I would never forget this family, whose story is the story of America, and that the women in these pages had forever deepened my understanding of motherhood, history, homecoming, and the revolutionary potential of love.”
“Sasha Bonét’s The Waterbearers is a bold new entry in the canon of literature about Black motherhood. With great intention and beauty, Bonét explores what it means to care for others and for oneself in the matrix of race, class and gender that powers American culture. A beautiful counternarrative to the ways motherhood—and Black motherhood specifically—are usually imagined in American literature, this is an intricately constructed sonnet on the inherent complexities in mothering another person.”
A sweeping narrative of the unique beauty and trials of Black matriarchy in America that weaves a sharp, tender examination of three single Black mothers—the author’s grandmother, mother, and the author herself—with stories of influential Black women in our culture.
Generations of Black women have borne children, borne the burdens of events untold, and borne witness to unspeakable trials. The Waterbearers carries this history, its fierce eloquence capturing a masterpiece of life written by a author who is intimately acquainted with how Black women have passed down knowledge and culture. Sasha Bonét doesn’t just present genealogical lineages but illuminates the cultural and societal connections of strong Black women who have built legacies and changed the world, sometimes in the most mundane of moments. The fierce eloquence of this story confirms Sasha Bonét as a voice we all now need to hear.
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