LIKE WATER

Vanni Espinoza feels trapped in her small New Mexico town and by the possibility that she may have Huntington's disease, like her father. With youthful energy, narrator Kyla Garcia reflects Vanni's aspirations and fears as the recent high school graduate submerges her feelings through romantic dalliances and shifts at her family's restaurant. All around her are familiar faces and places, brought to life through Garcia's use of regional accents. Vanni's complicated hopes for swimming, which is her refuge and passion, are revealed through the compromises she makes. When a new water park opens, Vanni develops close relationships with Lucas, an amiable lifeguard, and his younger, volatile sibling, Leigh. Garcia's tonal shifts illuminate family dynamics, identity issues, romance, and the search for a future that seems forever out of reach. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2018]