Water Ghosts

A Novel

By: Shawna Ryan

Narrated by: Laural Merlington

Locke, California, 1928. Three bedraggled Chinese women suddenly appear out of the mist one afternoon in a small Chinese farming town on the Sacramento River, and their arrival throws the community into confusion.

Two of the women are unknown to the townspeople, while the third is the long-lost wife of Richard Fong, the handsome manager of the local gambling parlor, who had left her behind in China many years earlier and had not yet returned for her.

Richard's wife's unexpected arrival complicates his life in no small way---not least with two prostitutes at the local brothel he frequents. One, the beautiful young Chloe, depends on him but has eyes for someone else, someone even more forbidden: the local preacher's daughter. The other, Poppy, the psychic madam of the brothel, is desperately in love with Richard, and she begins to sink into despair as he grows further and further away from her.

As the lives of the townspeople become inextricably intertwined with the newly arrived women, Poppy's premonitions begin to foretell a deep unhappiness for all involved. And when a flood threatens the livelihood of the entire town, the frightening power of these mysterious women who arrived in the mist will be revealed.

©2009 Shawna Yang Ryan (P)2009 Tantor

Water Ghosts

I suspect there is a good story in this book somewhere. It might be enhanced by video, but I was never drawn into a story or any character. It may be that, with a desire to ponder and read a story slowly, more may have emerged, but the characters were poorly developed, to me. I applaud the effort to write. This needed something more.