What would happen if you suddenly woke up in an unfamiliar place, far from home and the people you love, with your head confused and full of unanswered questions? This is what happens to Chiara, 15 years old, the protagonist of Isabella Salmoirago 's new novel " La cercatrice d'acqua " (Paoline Editoriale Libri, 2024, pp. 224).
Chiara's existence is turned upside down by a series of mysterious coincidences that force her to move to a tiny village, where she learns disturbing details about her family's past. From here she will then be catapulted into the world of Aqua and discover that she is the direct heir of the last Seeker... Chiara will have the difficult task of finding the Source that Quenches Thirst and saving the inhabitants of Aqua besieged by the Marauders. To do so she will have to face a dangerous journey, among traps, dangers and monstrous creatures. Will she be able to defeat the most sneaky and deceitful of enemies, risking losing everything, even herself, for her friends?
A gripping novel and at the same time a journey in search of oneself and one's roots, The Water Seeker is also a moving story about the bonds that strengthen us and lead us back to the essence and true meaning of life.
We asked the author, Isabella Salmoirago, what were the sources of inspiration for her novel?
"It's right to start by talking about 'sources' for a novel all about water! As always, every novel is rooted in the experiences of the person who wrote it and brings to the surface everything that is immersed in the depths: facts, readings stratified over time, experiences, values, which must however be looked at with a sort of reversed telescope that allows us to detach ourselves from them and make them somehow 'universal'. In the case of the Seeker, the most direct source is a passage from the Gospel of John: the episode of the Samaritan Woman, in which a woman, with many failures behind her, goes to the well in the hottest hours of the day to draw water, so as not to meet anyone. And instead she meets a man who surprises her with a request, that is, he asks her for a drink, disconcerting her, so much so that she responds: are you asking me for a drink? The heart of this request, and of my novel, is the idea that there is no one so thirsty that he cannot quench someone else's thirst."
What kind of girl is Chiara?
"She is a fifteen-year-old girl, generous, intelligent, capable of 'vitriolic responses', who grew up too quickly due to a dramatic event that disrupts relationships, creates conflicts and forces her to take on too many responsibilities. And she is also angry: she suffers from the absence of valid reference figures because if her mother is too invasive, always in control, distracted by work and the judgment of others, her father is absent, he withdraws from the situation. And in all this Chiara becomes, in spite of herself, the reference for her little brothers, whom she adores, even if she defines them as 'a criminal association'".
Why did you decide to place water at the center of your novel?
"Water is an essential element for our life, a very fragile resource of our Planet, which also has a strong symbolic and spiritual value. It is what we cannot do without in order to live and therefore a metaphor for what really matters, what is essential, what allows us to stay alive and not dry up."
Chiara has a burden that is bigger than her. What resources can she draw on?
«Chiara says of herself: 'It's like having a chasm inside. A heart with an emptiness in the center, like a dried-up donut, or like one of those thirsty flowers, forgotten on the windowsills of Milan, waiting for someone to make them reborn. And to think that just a drop of water would be enough, every day.' She feels alone, she misses the resources that come from the daily care and attention of those close to her, but above all she misses her brother, whose affection, however, continues to be the resource she draws from, in an internal dialogue that continues throughout the book».
Does it still make sense to search for the meaning of things and perhaps happiness?
"Yes, of course. It's something we all have inside, whether we're aware of it or not. It has an even greater meaning today for boys and girls who are struggling without references and who look for it wherever they can."