I love a family saga, and when the publisher sent me Stephanie Soileau’s Should the Waters Take Us (Doubleday 2026 – thanks for the copy! I wish I’d gotten this out sooner – the book was released 7/14/2026!), I was thrilled. Family saga spanning centuries and set primarily in the Louisiana bayou? Yes, please.
Let’s first talk about this cover. Could it be anymore perfect? The colors, the brushstrokes, the image, the font. It’s simply gorgeous.
Now let’s get to the meat. This book covers a lot of ground but continuously brings you back to the present day where a woman has a died, there’s an oil spill, a family has fractured, and a hurricane is coming. The fluidity and continuity of the time jumps works extremely well as the story of the Acadians and their resilience in the fight for land and survival takes us over four hundred years. While I appreciated seeing the past, it was the present story that held my attention – particularly that of Boy, his daughter, and the Nigerian parish priest.
I loved these perfectly imperfect characters, and the way Soileau handles the dialogue, using dialect without translations, was rather masterful. You’re not missing out if you don’t speak French, I promise.
Stephanie Soileau is a bit Pat Conroy meets Flannery O’Connor but all Soileau; her love for the Louisiana coast and its people is on every page.
Read this book.
A Girl Named Tommi 