Just outside the tiny Kansas town of Ulysses in 1903, a Mennonite woman gives birth to Agnes, a girl bearing a birthmark known as a Tieja Kjoaw—Tiger Scar. In the Molotschna Colony in the Ukraine, such a mark was said to herald either greatness or tragedy.

Over three generations, Agnes’ family struggles for greatness. Her husband shaves his entire body in order to win back God’s favor. A daughter says she was carried into the eye of a tornado on a clear winter’s day. A son frees a truckload of cattle in an attempt to be a modern Moses. A granddaughter butchers a cat to save her marriage. A white tiger residing in her daughter’s backyard claims to be Nora, the love of Agnes’ life.

Review

"Rooted in a Kansas Mennonite community throughout the long twentieth century, Shaken in the Water is rich in history and magical leaps, compelling characters, and nonlinear narrative technique. Reading it, gripped, I traced out a map of three generations on the back fly leaf. For all its wild extravagance, Jessica Penner's first novel is finally authentic, imaginative, and beautifully written. A haunting and sensual tale." -Julia Spicher Kasdorf, author of Poetry in America "The reality of the world Jessica Penner creates in Shaken in the Water is never quite what it appears to be: love can so swiftly shift-shape into hatred, rage into compassion, understanding into rejection and longing. But for the reader there is always the Voice calling, 'Herein!'-'Come in!'" -Rudy Wiebe, author of Peace Shall Destroy Many "[The] religious themes do not translate to holy or even upbeat ones. There are references to incest and abuse. And nearly all marriages are filled with pain. Nevertheless, one wants to muddle through and find the gem that clearly glimmers under the surface." -ForeWord Reviews "Although we do like these characters, Penner defies you to become overly sentimental about them. They are all thoroughly flawed human beings. We can relate to their struggle, but I found myself sometimes wanting to hold them at arm's length, shocked by the confessions that poured forth from them and troubled by their compromises. But this inherently flawed nature, while harder to read and less easy to digest, is also what makes this book feel real." -The Femonite "Penner's writing style is lyrical and precise, a pleasure to read. The absence of quotation marks in dialogue and the use of both High and Low German - sometimes translated, sometimes not - help to build a sense of otherness, of a community that understands its own rules even as it chafes against them. The sense of place is very strong; I could feel the blinding sun and smell the wheat and dust of harvest." - Historical Novel Society "Jessica Penner opens the door to a fantastical Mennonite world-where history meets magic and disembodied voices, and tornadoes and tigers skip into her characters seemingly simple lives. Her writing has a power all its own, leaping and dancing on the page, always captivating and always ferocious." -Lev Ac Rosen, author of All Men of Genius "Jessica Penner's absorbing novel will introduce many readers to an old world of religious devotion, piety, and contradiction-but this is also a contemporary world, full of love, compassion, betrayal and redemption. Penner's prose invites us in for a moving read, and by story's end, we are truly saddened to let these characters go." -Carolyn Ferrell, author of Don't Erase Me

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