The Water Keeper

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness, death, child sexual abuse, child abuse, physical abuse, and addiction.

Murph is the primary protagonist in The Water Keeper and the first-person point-of-view character. He is a priest yet does not typically practice, as he was recruited by the government years before the start of the novel. He works with an unnamed agency to hunt human traffickers, often traveling around the country to pursue specific girls and women who have been kidnapped. He is brave and courageous, frequently risking his own life to save young women and children.

Although he goes by the name Murph, his real name is David Bishop; after he lost his wife, Marie, he abandoned his real name. Instead, he uses his real name as the author’s name on a series of 13 novels that he has written. The novels tell the story of many of his past missions and his love for Marie. They serve as a source of comfort for him as well as for many readers like Summer, who value the love between Marie and David.

Murph is secretive about his past, keeping it from both the reader and the other characters.