Sunshine on Water

This small well-crafted book, "Sunshine on Water: The Callie Sue Hannamann Story", is a stunning portrayal of an innocent fourteen-year-old Midwestern farm girl's wretched experience with human bondage. Set in the small Midwest community of Hamburg, the story is told with unassuming but deceptive skill by Emma Betz, the town librarian. Emma begins slowly, building understanding and tension as she introduces and develops the characters, and suddenly the reader is unknowingly led deep into the long-established and fixated rules of small-town rural America, as well as into deep connection and empathy with the characters. As the plot develops and then takes a surprising turn, one quickly turns the pages for what comes next. This seemingly simple story is anything but simple. While succinct and concise, it is complicated. Emma writes about human bondage, but in the process she also writes about deep relationships and long-kept secrets. Mostly though, she writes about love...real and profound love of family and community and love of life itself. Unexpectedly encountering this unfathomable profound love brings the reader to tears. "Sunshine on Water: The Callie Sue Hannamann Story", will be loaned to friends and family but will end up permanently on one's own bookshelf, to be reread again and again. Because hidden in the pages are experiences and people we identify with. We don't want to let them go.