The Water Seeker

The Water Seeker by Kimberly Willis Holt  305 pp.

This well written historical novel is the story of a boy growing to manhood in the early 1800s with a touch of magical realism thrown in. Amos Kincaid had a rough start in life. His mother died when he was born and his father was a trapper who was away most of the time. He was taken in by an relatives and neighbors only to lose them to illness. His father, Jake and his grandfather before him were born with the gift of dowsing, finding underground water using a forked tree branch. His father, however, sees the gift as a curse that would only tie him down and only uses his gift when absolutely necessary to make money. Because of his father's feelings about it, Amos hides the knowledge that he too has inherited the gift. After Jake returns from trapping with a new wife, a Shoshone woman named Blue Owl, he decides to take a job as a scout for a wagon train headed to Oregon. On the trip Amos matures in many ways, growing into a fine man who eventually finds his calling and the love of his life.