When the gracious and beautiful Elinor Dammert arrives in Perdido, Alabama on Easter Sunday in 1919, she is a stranger in the small town, desperate to fit in. She sets her sights on marrying Oscar Caskey, the eldest son of Perdido’s first family; but beneath Elinor’s charm and beauty lies a shocking secret—and beneath the waters of the Perdido River, Elinor’s true form will soon be discovered, changing the Caskey family and the town of Perdido forever.

Originally published as a series of six volumes, Michael McDowell’s Blackwater is a Southern Gothic saga of suspense, mystery and terror. Upon its publication in 1983, the atmospheric and character-driven family drama of Blackwater not only defied the horror genre, but elevated it. Now collected as a single volume novel, Blackwater continues to be discovered and praised by new generations.