PUSHING WATER
Project Intro
"In a river current, it is not the water in front that pulls the river along, but the water in the rear that acts as the driving force, pushing the water in front forward."
A quote from THE LOTUS IN A SEA OF FIRE, A Buddhist Proposal for Peace By Thich Nhat Hanh

Pushing Water takes place in Vietnam several years prior to the beginning of WWII. Sarah, the protagonist, has lived in Vietnam for three years and works for the French government as an archivist. A translator who worked with Sarah is murdered and it is against the backdrop of the French Colonial era that this mystery must be solved. In the mean time Sarah gets caught up in the revolutionary movement that is about to take hold of this country and she will soon embark on a journey that will change her forever.

Clip (from first chapter)
"Good Lord, it's going to be even hotter today," Julia said and stepped around Van Huang, the Buddhist nun sitting in the doorway, and made her way out into the garden where I'd set up a small breakfast of bread and coffee.

"No, it's the same as yesterday," I told her.

"Could have fooled me." Julia looked a bit more rested than she had the night before, though she still had dark rings around her eyes.

"Here," Thi My said, and handed Julia a steaming cup of coffee.

"Coffee? I thought you only drank tea or rice wine in the Orient." Julia took the cup and sniffed it suspiciously. "It's coffee all right."

"Thank the French," the nun said.

My little house was located just on the edge of a large open-air market and the street outside roared with activity from before sunup until late evening. The two silk vendors across the way, one of which had a particularly distinct screeching voice, competed with each other all day to get the attention of the silkworm farmers carrying fresh loads of raw spun thread to the market. Potters and basket weavers balancing large bundles of goods on their backs or dangling from long shoulder poles shouted the names of their villages to let the buyers know that a special product had been brought into the city. This morning we sat in my garden eating bread and jam listening to all this activity as if today was like any other day. But we knew differently.

[For more details on Pushing Water please contact me at margaret_mendel123@yahoo.com]

Photos (from a fact-finding journey)

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