The Water KeeperUSA TODAY Bestseller | ECPA Bestseller A riveting story of heroism, heartache, and the power of love to heal all wounds by New York Times bestselling author Charles Martin that combines the intrigue of John Grisham with the heart-wrenching emotion of Nicholas Sparks. Murphy Shepherd is a man with many secrets. He lives alone on an island, tending the grounds of a church with no parishioners, and he's dedicated his life to rescuing those in peril. But as he mourns the loss of his mentor and friend, Murph himself may be more lost than he realizes. When he pulls a beautiful woman named Summer out of Florida's Intracoastal Waterway, Murph's mission to lay his mentor to rest at the end of the world takes a dangerous turn. Drawn to Summer, and desperate to find her missing daughter, Murph is pulled deeper and deeper into the dark and dangerous world of modern-day slavery. With help from some unexpected new friends, including a faithful Labrador he plucks from the ocean and an ex-convict named Clay, Murph must race against the clock to locate the girl before he is consumed by the secrets of his past--and the ghosts who tried to bury them. With Charles Martin's trademark lyricism and poignant prose, The Water Keeper is at once a tender love story, a heartrending search for freedom, an exploration of the terrible cost of human trafficking, and an anthem to the power of love to create change when it show up regardless of the cost. "Martin excels at writing characters who exist in the margins of life . . . Readers who enjoy flawed yet likable characters created by authors such as John Grisham and Nicholas Sparks will want to start reading Martin's fiction." --Library Journal, starred review "The Water Keeper is a wonderfully satisfying book with a plot driven by both action and love, and characters who will stay in readers' heads long after the last page." --Southern Literary Review "Charles Martin fans rejoice, because he's done it again . . . a multilayered story woven together with grace and redemption, and packed tight with tension and achingly real characters." --Lauren Denton The Murphy Shepherd series: Book 1: The Water Keeper, Book 2: The Letter Keeper, Book 3: The Record Keeper, Book 4: The Keeper (coming April 2025!) |
Contents
| 13 | |
Chapter 2 | 19 |
Chapter 3 | 32 |
Chapter 4 | 41 |
Chapter 5 | 48 |
Chapter 6 | 53 |
Chapter 7 | 62 |
Chapter 8 | 70 |
Chapter 30 | 207 |
Chapter 31 | 213 |
Chapter 32 | 221 |
Chapter 33 | 227 |
Chapter 34 | 234 |
Chapter 35 | 241 |
Chapter 36 | 248 |
Chapter 37 | 252 |
Chapter 9 | 78 |
Chapter 10 | 84 |
Chapter 11 | 89 |
Chapter 12 | 95 |
Chapter 13 | 103 |
Chapter 14 | 110 |
Chapter 15 | 116 |
Chapter 16 | 122 |
Chapter 17 | 126 |
Chapter 18 | 135 |
Chapter 19 | 141 |
Chapter 20 | 147 |
Chapter 21 | 154 |
Chapter 22 | 158 |
Chapter 23 | 165 |
Chapter 24 | 171 |
Chapter 25 | 176 |
Chapter 26 | 181 |
Chapter 27 | 188 |
Chapter 28 | 196 |
Chapter 29 | 199 |
Chapter 38 | 257 |
Chapter 39 | 261 |
Chapter 40 | 265 |
Chapter 41 | 270 |
Chapter 42 | 274 |
Chapter 43 | 278 |
Chapter 44 | 281 |
Chapter 45 | 284 |
Chapter 46 | 288 |
Chapter 47 | 294 |
Chapter 48 | 298 |
Chapter 49 | 303 |
Chapter 50 | 309 |
Chapter 51 | 314 |
Chapter 52 | 320 |
Chapter 53 | 329 |
Chapter 54 | 336 |
Discussion Questions | 341 |
About the Author | 344 |