The Seduction of Water

Iris Greenfeder, ABD (All But Dissertation), feels the "buts" are taking over her life: all but published, all but a professor, all but married. Yet the sudden impulse to write a story about her mother, Katherine Morrissey, leads to a shot at literary success. The piece recounts an eerie Irish fairy tale her mother used to tell her at bedtime-and nestled inside it is the sad story of her death. It captures the attention of her mother's former literary agent, who is convinced that Katherine ...