Grief does not always come with answers. Sometimes, it leaves behind only questions—fragments of a life that no longer exists, pieces of a story left unfinished. In Bodies of Water, Claire Baldwin Harrison explores this theme through Anna, a young woman who finds herself searching for meaning after the sudden death of her sister, Laura.
For Anna, Laura was everything: a protector, a guide, and the one person who always had a plan. But after Laura’s death, Anna realizes that there were things she never knew—secrets Laura carried, choices she made, and a past that Anna never fully understood. What starts as grief slowly transforms into a journey of discovery, as Anna follows the clues Laura left behind, trying to piece together the truth.
When Loss Leaves Questions Instead of Closure
Losing a loved one is never easy, but losing them without understanding their full story is even harder. For Anna, Laura’s death is not just an end—it is the beginning of a mystery. She begins to uncover hints that Laura had plans for her, that there was something important she wanted to reveal. But now, Laura is gone, and Anna must navigate the path on her own.
This reflects a common experience in grief. Often, when someone we love is suddenly taken from us, we are left with unresolved questions. Who were they outside of the roles they played in our lives? What were their struggles, their dreams, their regrets? The search for meaning after loss is not just about understanding the person we lost—it is about understanding ourselves in their absence.
Following the Clues of the Past
As Anna begins to unravel the layers of Laura’s past, she realizes that her sister was not just the responsible, dependable person she had always seen her as. Laura had her own secrets, her own struggles, and perhaps even a hidden reason for the way she lived her life.
This journey of discovery mirrors the way grief forces us to look deeper. It compels us to ask difficult questions and confront truths we may not have been ready to see. In Anna’s case, following the clues Laura left behind becomes a way of staying connected to her sister—a way of keeping her memory alive while also forging a new identity of her own.
Finding Meaning in the Unknown
Claire Baldwin Harrison, drawing from her own experience with loss, does not offer easy answers in Bodies of Water. Instead, she allows Anna’s journey to unfold in a way that feels real—filled with uncertainty, revelations, and moments of doubt. The book reminds us that sometimes, meaning is not something that is given to us. It is something we must search for, piece by piece, even when the answers are not what we expect.
For Anna, the search for meaning is not just about Laura—it is about herself. It is about stepping out of her sister’s shadow and learning who she is when there is no one left to guide her. And in that search, she finds something even more powerful than closure: she finds the strength to move forward.