The Deepening Stream

A novel about a woman’s rich inner life that captures timeless themes of motherhood and war from the twentieth-century bestselling author of The Brimming Cup.

Born to a university professor father and devoted mother, Penelope “Matey” Gilbert lives a life steeped in literature, music, and art—especially during her father’s sabbaticals in France. The language comes easily to the child, and her liveliness captures the hearts of a French family who welcomes her into their home.

As Matey comes of age back in the States, her family moves from the Midwest to New York State, where she must grapple with the unexpected death of her father. And after years of struggling intellectually with the idea of marriage, she finds love where she least expects it: in her family’s small ancestral hometown of Rustdorf, on the banks of the Hudson River. With Adrian Fort, she has two young children, finding stability and happiness she never thought possible. But her peace is short-lived. In Europe, France is being drawn into the First World War, threatening the lives of her dearest friends.

With close ties in France, Matey and Adrian make a daring choice that will thrust their young family into the chaos of war. In The Deepening Stream, Dorothy Canfield Fisher paints an extraordinary account of Matey’s day-to-day life in Paris, where ordinary citizens struggle to survive, while expanding on overarching themes of materialism, power, humanity’s inherent cruelty—and its courage.