The Water Cure - Sophie Mackintosh (Book)

Title: The Water Cure

Author: Sophie Mackintosh

Date Published: May 24, 2018

Publisher: Hamish Hamilton

Category: Dystopian Fiction / Literary Fiction

Sophie Mackintosh’s debut novel The Water Cure is a haunting, atmospheric tale set in an unspecified dystopian future. Three sisters—Grace, Lia, and Sky—have been raised in isolation on an island by their parents, protected from a toxic, dangerous world inhabited by men. Their father, known as King, enforces a strict regime of purifying rituals, emotional detachment, and physical trials intended to keep them safe and pure.

When King disappears and three mysterious men wash up on shore, the sisters’ secluded world begins to unravel. The arrival of these outsiders sparks a shift in power and desire, challenging everything the sisters have been taught about love, safety, and survival.

With echoes of The Handmaid’s Tale and Lord of the Flies, The Water Cure explores themes of gender, control, trauma, and resistance. Mackintosh’s lyrical prose and unsettling vision create a dreamlike, slow-burning narrative that is both a feminist allegory and a psychological exploration of isolation and indoctrination.