As Josie Belle Gore, daughter of a Louisiana train engineer and Texas seamstress, journeys with her itinerant family through the deserts of the boom-and-bust American West and revolutionary Mexico, she learns that in her life, two things are constant: water is precious, and her role in her family is to save it. When unforeseeable events force the separation of her family, Josie begins an odyssey that takes her from New Mexico’s Jornada del Muerto to Bisbee, Tucson, Los Angeles, and finally post-WWI San Francisco—experiencing betrayal, pandemic, and survivor’s guilt, as well as the compassion and generosity of friends and strangers, along the way. Once she lands in San Francisco, like a river meeting the sea, Josie has nowhere else to run—and she realizes that she must make peace with the past and good on her promise to the family she loves. Inspired by the author’s family lore, The Ways of Water is a lyrical tale of loss, hope, and forgiveness set in the rugged beauty of the turn-of-the-century Southwest that, like Josie, is growing up in fits and starts. 2025 Eric Hoffer Book Award Winner in Historical Fiction 2024 Southwest Book Award Winner 2024 Will Rogers Gold Medallion Award in Modern Fiction 2024 Western Heritage Award Winner for Outstanding Western Novel 2023 Best Book Awards Winner in Fiction: Western “Reading this book is like reading a diary, with each cherished location and character lovingly described. The reader is immersed in the harshness of living an itinerant life and is shown the quiet beauty that exists in the desert and that can be found even in the most dysfunctional of families.” — Booklist “. . . Josie is a sharp, perceptive lead. . . . Nostalgia overlays the eloquent family saga The Ways of Water, in which a girl is hastened toward independence by tragedy.” — Foreword Reviews “Janssen writes in Josie’s voice, which allows readers to get to know her as a brave, complicated woman, and witnessing her growth as a confident person is an engaging experience . . . Janssen creates a believable West.” — Kirkus Reviews “This story flows with twists and turns much like those of a river . . . The authentic voice, rich sensory imagery, and often lyrical, poetic language create an emotional and descriptive feast.” — Chanticleer Book Reviews , 5-stars “Teresa H. Janssen’s beautifully written historical novel captures your heart. With its vivid description, sensuous and poetic detail, you are at one with Josie Belle on every curve and dip of her path. You feel the sting of desert sand on your face and smell the sweet lavender in a baby’s bath. But mostly, you are touched by the strength of Josie’s family and their bond of love which holds them close, if not always in space but in heart. This is a breathtaking story, exquisitely told, that you will not forget.” —Anne Brooker James, author of The Marsh Bird “Janssen’s love of her subject radiates in every line of this immersive coming-of-age tale. Spanning the dizzying cycles of boom and bust in the early twentieth century Southwest, the novel is packed with historical detail. . . . Like a riverbed that dries up and refills, the Gore family must first be torn asunder before it can be made whole again. A precarious life is limned with great care and great heart—and with prose that often verges on the poetic.” —Laurel Davis Huber, award-winning author of The Velveteen Daughter “An inherently fascinating, deftly crafted and eloquently entertaining saga of a novel from start to finish.” — Midwest Book Review “From its captivating beginning to its redemptive end, Teresa H. Janssen's immersive debut, The Ways of Water , weaves a tale of heartache and joy based on family history set in the American Southwest in the early 20th century. Josie Belle Gore embodies every young girl's fears, curiosities, and dreams as she navigates an often-hostile environment and often-volatile family life. One can't help but cheer for her as she overcomes hardships and failure, time and again, on the road (or the rails) to maturity.A five-star debut." —Ashley E. Sweeney, author of Hardland “In the vein of William Kent Krueger’s This Tender Land , Teresa H. Janssen seamlessly transports readers into an expertly crafted yesteryear of her grandmother, Josie Belle Gore. As the rivers, creeks and streams flow throughout this land, so too, does Janssen's narrative, recreating the remote, untamed beauty of a region, and the harsh and oftentimes difficult way of life long-past. Janssen honors her grandmother with this exceptional account of the triumph and bravery of a singular young girl who grows into a woman as she makes her own way in the American Southwest.” —Donna Everhart, author of The Saints of Swallow Hill “Teresa H. Janssen draws a riveting story that I could not put down. It is reminiscent of Jeannette Walls’s Half Broke Horses and Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds . The prose is exceptional . . . The i