Miranda Crabtree spends her time running contraband for the preacher Billy Cotton and sheriff of her local area, as it is the only way she can provide for herself.

It also helps her keep an old woman and a child safe, as they had fled from Cotton's home eleven years prior.

Miranda's troubles come to a head once she is asked to make one last run, this time to bring a child to the insane Cotton.

The Boatman's Daughter was released in paperback and e-book format in the United States on February 11, 2020 through the MCD x FSG Originals imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

[6] A reviewer for the Memphis Flyer compared it to the Blackwater series by Michael McDowell, also noting similarities between the book and writings by Joe Hill and Neil Gaiman.