Lauren Francis-Sharma?s, ?Til the Well Runs Dry follows the story of seamstress Marcia Garcia and her herculean efforts to keep her family together and survive in a life marked by disappointment, secrecy and family shame. In her native Trinidad, 16-year old Garcia is forced to take on a lot of responsibility at a very early age. She finds a momentary slice of happiness and love in her suitor Farouk Karam, but even that turns out to be heartbreakingly short-lived when his family and ?friend? reject her, the latter having brought her to a near-death experience followed by a series of bizarre events.
Garcia?s children are her life and there?s nothing she won?t do for the possibility of giving them a better one ? even if it means leaving the country without them, narrowly escaping a kind of modern-day slavery masked as a job opportunity and finally accepting work she hadn?t considered in order to make ends meet. Her naivete grows into courage as she makes her way back to her beloved Caribbean and reconnects with her children; sad news awaits her, but this time, her newfound self-actualization gets her through it just fine.???????
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Francis-Sharma?s breathtaking debut, released earlier this year, is as stunning as the artwork on the cover. She creates a heroine in Garcia that readers will root for ? and remember fondly. This story of one woman’s journey of womanhood and discernment is not to be missed.
