The Seduction of Water by Carol Goodman

I went out and purchased The Seduction of Water by Carol Goodman immediately after finishing Goodman’s The Lake of Dead Languages. Like Dead Languages this is a mystery. In the book, Iris Greenfelder is a teacher and struggling writer. Iris’ mother was a famous writer who wrote 2 novels based on Irish folklore of what would have been a trilogy, except that she mysteriously died in a fire when Iris was ten prior to completing the third installment.

Iris has lives the last 30 years believing that her mother betrayed she and her father and that her existence impeded her mother’s ability to finish the third novel.  She struggles with trying to determine whether her mother ever loved her at all.
In the beginning, I actually liked this book better the Dead Languages because it was not as dark, and I was captured Irish by the folklore and mythology that was woven into the plot. I thought that the author did a fantastic job of weaving in the mystery of what happened to Iris’ mother, what her mother was hiding, and what happened to the manuscript. For some reason, the book lost its momentum about halfway through, and I felt that the story become more about Iris’ romonace with an younger, ex-con who was her former student and her conflicting feelings about the relationship.

At the end, the author was able to tie up some lose ends, although done somewhat summarily. I did not feel as if I had wasted my time, and there were parts that I really enjoyed, but I certainly did not have the “wow” factor.

If you are looking for a book to keep you company, it is worth the read, but “The Lake of Dead Languages” was better.