A profound and sensuous novel of grace and beauty from a stunning young Australian talent.

Innocent and unworldly, Mema is still living at home with her mother on a remote, lush hinterland property. It is a small, confined, simple sort of life, and Mema is content with it.

One day, during a heavy downpour, Mema saves a stranger from a raging creek. She takes him into her family home, where, marooned by rising floods, he has to stay until the waters recede. His sudden presence is unsettling - for Mema, her mother and her wild friend Anja - but slowly he opens the door to a new world of beckoning possibilities that threaten to sweep Mema into the deep.

'A fine and elegantly written novel from an impressive writer.' The Australian

'She ... takes the reader into a magical place.' Sydney Morning Herald

'A softly spoken coming-of-age tale that deserves the label tour de force.' North & South magazine

'Her first book, Darkness on the Edge of Town, was good, but Deeper Water is not just better, it's extraordinary.' Candida Baker, Verandah Magazine

'She takes us to a place of the strangest innocence and lovingness ... And she takes us to a physical place that's quite her own, and when you go to her country - the lush but uneasy country inland from Byron Bay - you recognise at once that she's the voice of it, the country speaks in her voice, though the captivating wise gentleness of that voice belongs only to Jessie.' Peter Bishop