The Town That Drowned

by Riel Nason

Overview

Winner, Commonwealth Book Prize (Canada and Europe)
Winner, Frye Academy Award
Winner, Margaret and John Savage First Book Award
Finalist, CLA Young Adult Book Award
Finalist, Red Maple Award
Finalist, University of Canberra Book of the Year
Longlisted, IMPAC Dublin Award

Living with a weird brother in a small town can be tough enough. Having a spectacular fall through the ice at a skating party and nearly drowning are grounds for embarrassment. But having a vision and narrating it to the assembled crowd solidifies your status as an outcast.

What Ruby Carson saw during that fateful day was her entire town — buildings and people — floating underwater. Then an orange-tipped surveyor stake turns up in a farmer's field. Another is found in the cemetery. A man with surveying equipment is spotted eating lunch near Pokiok Falls. The residents of Haverton soon discover that a massive dam is being constructed and that most of their homes will be swallowed by the rising water. Suspicions mount, tempers flare, and secrets are revealed. As the town prepares for its own demise, 14-year-old Ruby Carson sees it all from a front-row seat.

Set in the 1960s, The Town That Drowned evokes the awkwardness of childhood, the thrill of first love, and the importance of having a place to call home. Deftly written in a deceptively unassuming style, Nason's keen insights into human nature and the depth of human attachment to place make this novel ripple in an amber tension of light and shadow.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780864926401
Publisher:	Goose Lane Editions
Publication date:	09/23/2011
Edition description:	First edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Riel Nason is a writer and textile artist. She is the author of three novels (including one for middle-grade readers), a children's picture book, and two books on quilting. The Town That Drowned was her debut novel. It won the Commonwealth Book Prize for Canada and Europe and the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award. She lives in Quispamsis, New Brunswick.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Weird, warm, and wonderful. . . . The Town That Drowned will pull you into its compassionate heart and imbue you with the portrait of a place not easily forgotten." — Donna Morrissey, author of What They Wanted

"By turns charming, humorous and terrifying, Riel Nason's unique and compelling coming-of-age story is infused with warmth and insight and — through artfully painted details of a richly textured community — speaks to the transcendent power of human bonds." — Carla Gunn, author of Amphibian

Editorial Reviews

"[A] captivating debut novel ... many flashes of clever humour and felicitous, well-paced storytelling that keeps you engaged throughout."

National Post

"Fantastic ... I had such an emotional reaction ... The ending is so hopeful and uplifting. Highly recommended."

Chrisbookarama.com

"An impressive first novel."

Winnipeg Review

"Riel Nason's debut novel establishes her as a writer with a bright future ... Nason's writing is warm and empathetic. She has a lovely ear for dialogue and her townspeople are well drawn. She also does a terrific job capturing the feel of a 1960s rural New Brunswick."

The Chronicle Herald

"The writing is finely polished, the locale evocative, and her dialogue rings true. In Ruby, she nails the voice of youth."

Maple Tree Literary Supplement

"[T]his is a vivid, intimate novel that works equally well for adult and young-adult readers. ... Nason's genius in this novel is not just to tell an important historical story that needed to be told but to find exactly the right perspective from which to tell it. ... The Town That Drowned is a warm, intimate story in which every character feels as real as someone you might meet on the street."

Compulsive Overreader

"If her debut novel, The Town That Drowned, is any indication, Riel Nason is a writer to watch. This tender tale about a New Brunswick village threatened by the provincial government's plan to build a dam has a ton of soul."

NOW Magazine - Susan G. Cole

"Charming, wry, and believable ... Nason has a particular gift for introducing supporting characters with memorable anecdotes, each of which reads like a sparkling little gem of a short story ... Ruby's voice, vibrating with contradictory desires, [delivers] shot-to-the-heart moments of real humour and pathos."

Quill & Quire

"This is a richly detailed journey through a young woman's perspective, and the story flows like a gentle river as the reader watches a catastrophe unfold in slow motion. ... It's haunting and memorable, and simply a lovely read."

Amy's Marathon of Books

"The Town That Drowned is not easily forgotten."

Scene Magazine

"This is a lighthearted and well-written book that I would recommend to anyone."

Record - Meg Forrestell-Page

"I loved it. It's Canadian historical fiction with a tiny touch of the paranormal."

2012 Canadian Library Association young Adult Book Award judge

"A powerful contemporary examination of a girl who falls through the ice, has a vision of the future of her town, is rescued, and then finds that vision coming to life in an alarming way."

Midwest Book Review

"Riel Nason's debut novel establishes her as a writer with a bright future ... Nason's writing is warm and empathetic. She has a lovely ear for dialogue and her townspeople are well drawn. She also does a terrific job capturing the feel of a 1960s rural New Brunswick."

Chronicle-Herald

"[A] captivating debut novel ... many flashes of clever humour and felicitous, well-paced storytelling that keeps you engaged throughout."

"Charming, wry, and believable ... Nason has a particular gift for introducing supporting characters with memorable anecdotes, each of which reads like a sparkling little gem of a short story ... Ruby's voice, vibrating with contradictory desires, [delivers] shot-to-the-heart moments of real humour and pathos."

"If her debut novel, The Town That Drowned, is any indication, Riel Nason is a writer to watch. This tender tale about a New Brunswick village threatened by the provincial government's plan to build a dam has a ton of soul."

"Riel Nason's debut novel establishes her as a writer with a bright future ... Nason's writing is warm and empathetic. She has a lovely ear for dialogue and her townspeople are well drawn. She also does a terrific job capturing the feel of a 1960s rural New Brunswick."

"The writing is finely polished, the locale evocative, and her dialogue rings true. In Ruby, she nails the voice of youth."

"An impressive first novel."

"The Town That Drowned is not easily forgotten."

"Fantastic ... I had such an emotional reaction ... The ending is so hopeful and uplifting. Highly recommended."

"This is a lighthearted and well-written book that I would recommend to anyone."

"[T]his is a vivid, intimate novel that works equally well for adult and young-adult readers. ... Nason's genius in this novel is not just to tell an important historical story that needed to be told but to find exactly the right perspective from which to tell it. ... The Town That Drowned is a warm, intimate story in which every character feels as real as someone you might meet on the street."

"This is a richly detailed journey through a young woman's perspective, and the story flows like a gentle river as the reader watches a catastrophe unfold in slow motion. ... It's haunting and memorable, and simply a lovely read."

"I loved it. It's Canadian historical fiction with a tiny touch of the paranormal."

"A powerful contemporary examination of a girl who falls through the ice, has a vision of the future of her town, is rescued, and then finds that vision coming to life in an alarming way."

From the Publisher

"Nason writes with a keen logic and with the kind of wisdom that comes from an astute understanding of what it is to be human. It is a gift, and Nason brings this gift to the book's protagonist fourteen-year-old Ruby Carson."

The Malahat Review

"[T]his is a vivid, intimate novel that works equally well for adult and young-adult readers. . . . Nason's genius in this novel is not just to tell an important historical story that needed to be told but to find exactly the right perspective from which to tell it. . . . The Town That Drowned is a warm, intimate story in which every character feels as real as someone you might meet on the street."

The Compulsive Overreader

"Nason writes with a keen logic and with the kind of wisdom that comes from an astute understanding of what it is to be human. It is a gift. . . . From the smell of hot chocolate when Ruby regains consciousness from her fall, to the Nesbitt's Orange pop bottle sealed with canning wax, Nason imbues every scene with sensory delight. But anything of the quaint or peculiarly local in this book takes a back seat to the voice of Ruby Carson. She is one of a kind."

fiddleheadwest-malahateast.blogspot.ca

"An impressive first novel."

The Winnipeg Review

"Riel Nason's debut novel establishes her as a writer with a bright future . . . Nason's writing is warm and empathetic. She has a lovely ear for dialogue and her townspeople are well drawn. She also does a terrific job capturing the feel of a 1960s rural New Brunswick."

The Chronicle-Herald