Ireland, 19th century. The industrial era has already arrived in large cities, but rural dwellers, just as they did a thousand years ago, believe in the supernatural. When Nora Leahy's young husband and daughter suddenly die, and her four-year-old grandson loses the ability to walk and talk, she realizes she has fallen victim to the fairies, or 'good neighbors,' as the valley dwellers call them, with a timid, yet respectful tone. Against these creatures, neither healer nor priest are powerless—the fairies themselves choose whom to help and whom to harm. Nora turns to the healer Nance Roach, who is rumored to be in touch with the 'good neighbors': she knows the power of herbs, water, and fire, and she can drive away the changeling and return his grandmother to a healthy grandson... In her second book, the author of the worldwide bestseller 'A Taste of Smoke,' Hannah Kent, again turns to real historical events - 'Dark Water' is based on the materials of a trial in the Irish county of Kerry in 1826.