An evocative novel of love and art, and one man's journey to find his place in the world. Where Light Meets Water is a moving debut traversing nineteenth-century London, Melbourne and New Zealand's rugged South Island.
Shortlisted for the NZ Booklovers Awards 2024
Longlisted for the Australian Book Design Awards 2024
Where the sailor ends the artist begins . . .
London, 1847: On shore leave while his ship is being repaired, sailor Thomas Rutherford is restless, waiting to return to sea. At twenty-eight years old, Tom knows nothing but life on tall ships and is determined to captain his own.
But Tom has a second passion: painting. And so he passes time with his paintbox and sketchbook... until he is struck by the discovery of a delicate glove laced with the unmistakable scent of turpentine. The owner is Catherine Ogilvie – captivating, headstrong and a talented artist in her own right. Intrigued by this singular woman, Tom finds himself swept into Catherine's privileged yet stifling world.
As Tom and Catherine grow closer, Tom's eyes are opened to a new way of life. But his ambitions remain and, when the sea calls to Tom, he must face an impossible choice.
In her stunning debut, Susan Paterson explores the power of art to transform a life and to connect us to others. Where Light Meets Water is a multi-stranded novel of love – of a man and a woman, of a sailor and the sea, and of an artist and his gift.
Praise for Where Light Meets Water:
'A splendidly engaging tale of the inner lives of artists' Gail Jones
'Susan Paterson wields her pen like an artist's brush and the result is beautiful and evocative' Pip Williams
'Perfectly paced and sumptuously visual … A stunning debut' Catherine Chidgey
'This book is utterly magnificent. Susan Paterson is a wonder' Eliza Henry-Jones
'Sure to delight and dazzle readers' Melissa Ashley
'A shimmering, beautiful and deftly told story' Michelle Scott Tucker
'An extraordinary debut' Kristina Olsson Susan Paterson is a writer and editor from Aotearoa New Zealand. Her debut novel, Where Light Meets Water, was shortlisted in an earlier version for the 2019 Michael Gifkins Prize for an Unpublished Novel and written with the assistance of a Varuna Fellowship. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in various publications including Meanjin, Going Down Swinging, Etchings, Wet Ink and Poetry NZ. She lives in Naarm/Melbourne. 'This book is utterly magnificent. Susan Paterson is a wonder.' 'Where Light Meets Water is a shimmering, beautiful and deftly told story. Charting the course of one man's life, it delicately explores the intersections between art, passion, love and duty. Insightful and resonant; full of evocative imagery – I enjoyed this book so much. Where Light Meets Water is a thought-provoking novel and a compelling tale that stayed with me long after I read the final page.' 'Where Light Meets Water is a story about love – of the sea, of art, and of a woman. It is a story about equals at a time when equality was impossible, and Susan Paterson has told it with great compassion and insight. Susan Paterson wields her pen like an artist's brush and the result is beautiful and evocative.' 'Moving, tender and beautifully written: this is a splendidly engaging tale of the inner lives of artists and the spoken and unspoken worlds of their complicated love.' 'The swells and rhythms of the sea – and of the human heart – suffuse every page. Perfectly paced and sumptuously visual, Where Light Meets Water is a stunning debut.' 'Susan Paterson's Where Light Meets Water is a lyrical and gripping historical fiction novel that traverses nineteenth-century Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, and the oceans that join and separate them. Paterson's always insightful writing explores divisions of privilege and class, tensions between freedom
