“With this stunning debut novel, Rebecca Bruff establishes herself as an exciting new voice in historical fiction.” —Cassandra King Conroy, author of Moonrise, and Founding Honorary Chair of the Pat Conroy Literary Center “Before this decisive night, I’d not fully appreciated the subtle line between inspiration and insanity. But now, with all our lives at risk, I found myself navigating that most … at risk, I found myself navigating that most perilous edge . . . ”
Inspired by the life of an unsung American hero and slave, Trouble the Water navigates the rich tributaries of courage, betrayal, and redemption. In his inspiring journey, Robert Smalls witnesses great privilege and suffering alongside his owner’s daughter and the dangerous son of a firebrand secessionist. At the age of twelve, he’s sent to work in Charleston, where he loads ships and learns to pilot a cotton steamer. When the Civil War erupts and his cotton steamer becomes a confederate warship, Robert seizes the opportunity to pursue freedom for himself and the people he loves.
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Awesome and Inspirational! Wow! Trouble the Water by Rebecca Dwight Bruff was right in my wheelhouse. There was a lot of creative license taken in this novel. It was all for the good and took nothing away from the life of Robert Smalls. She stuck to the facts as much as she possibly could. I absolutely loved the way she imagined how his life was as a young boy born to slavery and as a young man that fought for what he wanted out of life…freedom and a family. He signed up the first black men to fight in the civil war. He went on to represent South Carolina in Washington for five terms. That was an accomplished life! He was an American Hero many of us never learned about.
I read this book during the demonstrations and riots after the death of George Floyd in the custody of police officers. I found myself pausing and pondering the life of our black population 155 years after the civil war. I think President Lincoln and Robert Smalls would be disappointed in the lack of progress. They both changed so many lives but, it is apparent there is still progress to be made.
Rebecca Dwight Bruff gave me a lot to think about. I learned a lot from her book even though it is fiction. It is a beautiful, well written book and I would advise each one of you to pick up this book and see if it doesn’t change your life. I know Rebecca and Mr. Smalls changed mine.
I received a copy of this book from the author for a fair and honest review.
This powerful novel takes the reader on an unusual journey featuring the life of a little-known and unsung American hero. Bruff opens the book with one of the most riveting scenes I’ve read in a book in a long time, and from there, develops a character so richly rendered I wanted to know him more and more. The beautiful writing alone makes this a wonderful read, but the story is gripping as it marches onward through decades of an incomparable life and time in history toward a bittersweet, yet satisfying conclusion. Highly recommended.
Trouble the Water is warmhearted, even-tempered, biographical fiction told with such delicacy that the reader drifts from its true-to-life scaffolding. In this captivating novel, Author Rebecca Dwight Bruff fearlessly takes on an era in American history a lesser writer wouldn’t touch, and she does so with admirable confidence while reaching the heart of what is essentially a human-interest story.
Trouble the Water is a soulful story populated with racially divided, interdependent characters in the midst of the South’s changing times. It is pre-Civil War in Beaufort, South Carolina, a hotbed of beneath-the-surface discontent set against the facade of waterfront civility. It is the historically significant, Robert Small’s, first-person story: he was born into slavery when there was nothing to be done about it, not yet. In an equanimous voice that makes us care from the onset, the story carries the reader through vividly drawn Low Country settings that are part and parcel to the flow of the chronicle. With a steady hand, Rebecca Dwight Bruff presents a ringside seat through the personal stages of Robert Small’s hard-won achievements. He is Horatio Alger guided by spirit on a hero’s journey, a dauntless man with a mission whose triumphant act becomes a turning point in the Civil War and impacts the ages.
I recommend Trouble the Water to those who love well-rooted historical fiction, biographical fiction, and a beautifully told story with a satisfying sense of redemption. All praise for author Rebecca Dwight Bruff. I understand she moved from Texas to South Carolina to research and write this gorgeous novel. In this humble reader’s opinion, the move was worth it.
This is an extraordinary and healing gift to the literature of the South. Engaging, heartfelt and beautifully crafted, it shows the role religion played in maintaining slavery (“a scriptural institution”) and is peopled with characters that live on in the reader’s imagination. A life long suppressed is here brought forth in light and depth and beauty. Highly recommended.