Living with an eccentric little brother can be tough. Falling through the ice at a skating party and nearly drowning are grounds for embarrassment. But having a vision and narrating it to assembled onlookers? That solidifies your status as an outcast.

What Ruby Carson saw during that fateful hallucination was her entire hometown — houses and people — floating underwater. Then an orange-tipped surveyor stake appears in a field, another in the cemetery. Soon everyone discovers that a massive dam is being constructed and their homes will eventually be swallowed by rising water. Suspicions mount, tempers flare, long-simmering secrets are revealed. As the town prepares for its demise, 14-year-old Ruby watches it all from a front-row seat.

Set in the 1960s, The Town That Drowned deftly evokes the awkwardness of childhood, the thrill of first love, and the importance of having a place, any place, to call home.

“[A] captivating debut novel … many flashes of clever humour and felicitous, well-paced storytelling that keeps you engaged throughout.”
– National Post

“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

“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

“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

“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

“An impressive first novel.”
– Winnipeg Review

“The Town That Drowned is not easily forgotten.”
– Scene Magazine

“Fantastic … I had such an emotional reaction … The ending is so hopeful and uplifting. Highly recommended.”
– Chrisbookarama.com

“This is a lighthearted and well-written book that I would recommend to anyone.”
– Record

“[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

“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