New ebooks From Canadian Indies
Description
Winner, Commonwealth Book Prize, Canada and Europe, Frye Academy Award, and Margaret and John Savage First Book Award
Shortlisted, CLA Young Adult Book Award, Red Maple Award, and 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.
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age:
- 12 to 18
- Grade:
- 7 to 12
Awards
- Short-listed, University of Canberra Book of the Year
- Winner, Frye Academy Award
- Winner, Commonwealth Book Prize, Canada and the Caribbean
- Long-listed, IMPAC Dublin Award
- Winner, Commonwealth Book Prize, Canada and Europe
- Short-listed, CLA Young Adult Book Award
- Winner, Margaret and John Savage First Book Award
- Long-listed, Canada Reads
- Short-listed, Red Maple Award
Editorial Reviews
"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 ... 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."
— <i>Malahat Review</i>
"The Town That Drowned is not easily forgotten."
— <i>Scene Magazine</i>
"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."
— <i>Chronicle Herald</i>
"[A] captivating debut novel ... many flashes of clever humour and felicitous, well-paced storytelling that keeps you engaged throughout."
— <i>National Post</i>
"I loved it. It's Canadian historical fiction with a tiny touch of the paranormal."
— 2012 Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award judge
"Fantastic ... I had such an emotional reaction ... The ending is so hopeful and uplifting. Highly recommended."
— Chrisbookarama.com
"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."
— <i>NOW Magazine</i>
“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.”
— <i>Midwest Book Review</i>
"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."
— <i>Quill & Quire</i>
"An impressive first novel."
— <i>Winnipeg Review</i>
"The writing is finely polished, the locale evocative, and her dialogue rings true. In Ruby, she nails the voice of youth."
— <i>Maple Tree Literary Supplement</i>
"[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
"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
"This is a lighthearted and well-written book that I would recommend to anyone."
— <i>Record</i>
