The setting is Detroit, Michigan in the first decade of this century and Lily is the third generation of her family to work for one of the major American automobile companies. Lily and her husband Tim met when they were in their thirties, married and became parents to Benjamin after some years of trying. Now, Tim is an unemployed engineer who hangs out in their basement pretending to job-search on the Internet when he is really just looking at porn. That makes Lily the main wage earner and her job at the automotive company pays their bills and keeps toddler Benjamin in part-time daycare. However, Lily doesn't enjoy her job, for it brings a high-level of stress and long, long hours that keep her away from mothering Benjamin as she feels she should. She has bloodshot eyes, lines from her mouth to her chin, gray hairs at her root-line and a weight-gain problem from eating fast foods. And her immediate boss, William, is a horror to work for and a male chauvinist to boot. Lily makes a list of what is most in important in her life and strives to find a career that in the words of her sister, Kristina, allows her "to do who you are." Lily's grandfather helped build a church, organized a union, and visited hospitals and nursing homes, but can Lily emulate her father and grandfather and stand tall in the face of severe and often stupid opposition from her division heads at work?

Author Sonya Vaughn's "Words Falling Like Water" is one of those enchanting books that needed to be written. The storyline is strong and enticing throughout every page and the characters are very believable. Lily, her family, co-workers Dan, Paul and Sylvia, her lackluster husband Tim, and Dumb and Dumber bosses, NB and Dolores, as well as Starbucks customers like Jane, are all very memorable, well-created and definitely three-dimensional characters."Words Falling Like Water" should be on everyone's reading list. Don't miss it!

Words Falling Like Water by Sonya Vaughn is a gritty contemporary novel that takes a long hard look at not just the plight of one of the major industries in America, but also at the plight of working women. Lily is juggling a busy working life with Tim, her depressed and unemployed husband, and a young son. She asks herself if she’s contributing anything to this world. She feels like she’s getting nowhere and doing an unsuccessful juggling act. Her sister Kristina helps keep her grounded. Work is tough with a dictatorial manager but suddenly her job, and those of her coworkers, are threatened as the automotive industry faces bankruptcy. Some lose jobs and others are forced into full time work. Lily faces many tough, traumatic decisions as she deals with obstacles at every turn in her professional and family lives.

There is plenty of social commentary and history in this intricately woven novel. The author looks back to the formative years of the industry and how tough life was for unskilled workers. However, her main focus is on the difficulties working women face and how they can strive to find some kind of balance and yet keep their sense of self-worth and their faith. It’s very powerful and quite a frustrating read in that you share the unfair burden Lily has to bear. It’s an absorbing read but a challenging one and makes you think hard about whether our wish to have everything is one worth pursuing when it comes at such a high price.