Backwater will make you homesick for a place you've never been. Boudreaux is a magnificent, surprising, rich new Southern voice. - Jeff Johnson, author of Knottspeed, A Love Story (Turner), the Darby Holland Crime Novels (Skyhorse) and Tattoo Machine (Random House)
Boudreaux has created a rich, atmospheric world that I did not want to leave. Her characters were brought to life with great detail and depth, and they stayed with me long after the story was finished. This is by far the most accurate and best representation of the culture and place that I call home. A must for anyone wanting to get swept away with an amazing, beautiful story. - Jennifer Park, author of The Shadows We Know By Heart (Simon Pulse/S&S)
Backwater has hooks and soul and characters that stay with you, and all of the descriptions are beautiful and true. From rivers to deep pine forests, this novel hits every note right. Kate Boudreaux is a fresh new voice in Southern fiction, and may just become known as the Jane Austen of East Texas. - William Jensen, author of Cities of Men (Turner)
Backwater - A Love Story
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After years of rubbing elbows with Austin’s elite, Sunday Frederick jumps at the chance to escape the concrete jungle and practice natural medicine in her beloved hometown. But returning to the sleepy East Texas community of Old Salem with a fast-talking fiancé in tow proves more of a challenge than she ever expected as she struggles to balance his ambitions with the best interests of her family and the surrounding community. When a wildcrafting assignment plunges her into the swampy, mosquito-infested river bottom of her youth—and face-to-face with local rebel, Eli LeBlanc—Sunday finds herself torn between everything she thought she wanted and everything she can’t live without.
Told in an authentic Southern voice, Backwater is that rare breed of novel that will please every type of reader while shining light on the struggle of rural communities everywhere to retain not only their cultural identity, but the environment on which it depends.
Kate Boudreaux specializes in authentic Southern storytelling drawing from her family's generational experiences of thriving in the river bottoms of East Texas for over 150 years. Her work has placed in the William Faulkner Literary Competition and she enjoys serving as a contributor for Texas Books in Review.