Beautifully written with striking imagery, broken water revolves around a mother (Elizabeth) and her 28-year-old daughter (Ellie). Through the interweaving of their stories, we see that Elizabeth sadly and tragically denies truth, while Ellie is unable and sometimes unwilling to see all the things that would connect her to others and herself. As the novel progresses, Ellie is slowly opening up to the possibility of these connections as she approaches her own truth, her own rebirth. The effects of these characters and their lives ripple throughout the novel, affecting all of the family members on different levels. Six of the ten stories have been published independently in literary journals and magazines. Now the stories are brought together in the novel, the way that they were conceived and created. While the stories resonate on their own, in the novel they now reverberate as they illuminate the characters, themes, and imagery on a whole new level.