• Bridge Michigan hosted its latest Culture Club, featuring a discussion of ‘The Waters’ by Bonnie Jo Campbell 
  • Author Bonnie Jo Campbell answered questions about the novel and offered insight into her creative process 
  • Campbell discussed the themes of women’s sanctuary, folk healing and the natural world at the center of the book

Bridge Culture Club returned on Wednesday to discuss “The Waters,” Bonnie Jo Campbell’s national bestselling novel set on a fictional Michigan island where a medicine woman and her three daughters steward a place of healing that has long served as a sanctuary for women. 

The event featured Campbell, who answered questions about the book and offered insight into her research and creative process. Among other things, the novel explores folk healing traditions, the relationship between women and the natural world and what it means to maintain a sanctuary in the face of outside pressure. 

Campbell drew on deep knowledge of southwest Michigan’s landscape, plant medicines and communities to build a world that feels both mythic and grounded in real Michigan terrain. During the virtual discussion, Campbell talked about the novel’s themes of women’s autonomy and the risks women face when those spaces are threatened. She also spoke about her longstanding connection to Michigan’s rivers and the way the land itself shapes the characters she writes.  

Watch the video here:

Bridge Michigan hosts bimonthly discussions on books with ties to Michigan. More than 400 members received a free copy of “The Waters.” If you would like free electronic copies of future selections, join Bridge today.

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This was Bridge’s first Culture Club event of 2026. If you have suggestions for future books, films or podcasts with connections to Michigan, please share them with us on this form.Previous Culture Club discussions have featured “The World According to Fannie Davis” by Bridgett M. Davis, “Arc of Justice” by Kevin Boyle, “The Women of the Copper Country” by Mary Doria Russell, “Black Bottom Saints” by Alice Randall, “Annie’s Ghosts: A Journey into a Family Secret” by Steve Luxenberg, “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes” by Dan Egan, “Firekeeper’s Daughter” by Angeline Boulley, “Wounds” by Razel Jones and Daniel Abbott, “The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls” by Anissa Gray, “The Other Me” by Sarah Zachrich Jeng, “The Dockporter” by Dave McVeigh and Jim Bolone, “You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair is in Braids” by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang “The King of Confidence” by Miles Harvey, “What the Eyes Don’t See” by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, “American Salvage” by Bonnie Jo Campbell, “We Kept Our Towns Going” by Phyllis Michael Wong, the film “Bad Axe,” directed by David Siev, “Once We Were Here” by Christopher Cosmos, “August Snow” by Stephen Mack Jones, “Tin Camp Road” by Ellen Airgood, “Dearborn” by Ghassan Zeineddine, the film “Pelkie,” directed by Michael Loukinen, “Impermanence” by Sue Leaf, “Know the Mother” by Desiree Cooper, the film “Rouge” by Hamoody Jaafar and Razi Jafri, the short story collection “Enough to Lose” by RS Deeren, “Shadows Beyond the Pines” by Dianna Cross Toran, and “I Cheerfully Refuse” by Leif Enger, and “The Invisible Mammal” by Kristin Tièche.

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