The Sunken Town: A Novel

In The Sunken Town, Lindsay, a thirty-year-old California native who never gave much thought to being adopted, unexpectedly inherits her birth mother Claire's farmhouse in Maine, propelling her on a journey across the country and across the years into a lake of secrets that will ultimately reveal just how far Claire was willing to go to protect her and her identity.

Told from both Lindsay’s and Claire’s points of view, The Sunken Town explores adoption, the nature of family dynamics, mother-daughter relationships, the impact of family secrets, the weight of motherhood and the lasting consequences of the choices people make.

About the Author

Karen Nelson is a freelance writer and the co-founder of the non-profit Writing By Writers. In her over twenty-five-year career as a non-profit executive, she has protected open space, funded cancer research, trained people to complete endurance events, and helped writers bring their work into the world. She has a degree in creative writing from Colby College and has attended Aspen Summer Words, The Tin House Workshop, The Napa Valley Writers Conference and Writing By Writers.