When the city turns off her family's water, seventeen-year-old Emily begins to understand why her uncle Dwight thinks the government should keep its hands off people's lives, property, and the things they have a right to-such as water. Set in Phoenix, Arizona, in the summer of 2010, Out Stealing Water tells the story of Emily's increasingly bold schemes to get enough money to leave Phoenix for good. She and her cousin, Paula, begin stealing. At first, it's T-shirts and gym shorts from the university gym, but it soon escalates to stealing cell phones and IDs. When they accept an offer from the shady friend of her uncle Jay to steal suitcases from Sky Harbor Airport, they may have crossed a point of no return. Meanwhile, Dwight struggles to hang on to the family's ramshackle two-acre property located in the heart of a rapidly growing university town by accepting help from an armed antigovernment group. In the wake of a tragic shootout, Emily has to choose: Stay in the place she calls home? Or find a new life for herself?
Reviews
"You're walking a familiar street when something -- the play of light, a child's call far off, tree roots pushing through sidewalk, a perfectly blue robin's egg lying lost on the ground -- brings on waves of feeling and of memory and you see this street as though for the first time, with wonder. That's what writers at their best do, and what Roxanne does in Out Stealing Water ." Jim Sallis, author o f Sarah Jane, Will Not, Drive , Lew Griffin detective series, and numerous other works of fiction and poetry
"this book is so timely and well done and I admired it." Aimee Bender, author of The Color Mast, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Willful Creatures, and others; judge for Autumn House Press, 2019 Full-length fiction contest
"In this novel of a makeshift family facing eviction from their trailers on a dirt lot in the city of Tempe, Roxanne Doty makes disreputable and dishonest teenagers, and the adults who mislead them, into sympathetic characters that you are rooting for by the final confrontation with authorities. Doty writes with skill and compassion, bringing this story of escalating mistakes and desires to a satisfying conclusion." Patricia Grady Cox, Author of Chasm Creek and Hellgate
"Behold one building after another popping up like the weeds that used to dot the desert land in Arizona. Isn't a sprawling university something magnificent to celebrated? But what if it completely swallows up a way of life for an already struggling family, living on a small piece of land. To the outside world, this parcel, so precious to its inhabitants, is an eyesore and an impediment to progress. Out Stealing Water is a must read if you have ever wondered what it would be like to become an outcast on land that has been in your family for generations, and is about to be taken from you because you can't produce the stupid piece of paper that says it's yours. Roxanne Doty has penned a brilliant novel that immediately draws the reader into this family's plight. Dwight put his life on the line for his country in the Iraq War, and now this same government is stealing his land. Nothing about this family is ordinary, and all of their terribly human flaws, along with their dire circumstances, cause them to make some very questionable decisions, compelling the reader to keep reading to find out how this will all end. I love a book that makes me think and feel deeply, while entertaining me at the same time. Out Stealing Water does just that." Nancy Purcell, author of Stop Twisting the Knife , and Challenges and Chores



Book Information
ISBN 9781646031979
Author Roxanne Lynn Doty
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Regal House Publishing LLC
Publisher Regal House Publishing LLC
Weight(grams) 312g