The Family Drama of Wally Lamb’s 'We Are Water'

Wally Lamb's latest, We Are Water, works the same magic as his 1992 Oprah-anointed breakthrough, She's Come Undone, capturing a snapshot of modern life (class struggle, racial violence) through the lens of a family faced with jarring news from its matriarchal figure.

After 27 years of marriage to a man, Annie Oh prepares to wed Viveca, her minted Manhattan lesbian art dealer. Her three children express everything from support to fearful condemnation, while her shrink ex-husband isn't sure how he feels.

As the competing narratives build amid the secrets that emerge when Annie returns to their Connecticut hometown, the results are explosive--much like a post-Obama, post-gay marriage America still tethered to its history.

Watch Wally Lamb discuss the evolution of the ideas for We Are Water below: