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The Sunken Town: A Novel
If you admit one truth, what else will you have to acknowledge?
Lindsay, a thirty-year-old California native, never gave much thought to being adopted. When she unexpectedly inherits her birth mother Claire's farmhouse in Maine, she is plunged into a journey across the country and across the years into a lake of secrets that will ultimately reveal just how far everyone was willing to go to protect her. Told from both Lindsay's and Claire's points of view, The Sunken Town explores adoption, identity, 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 the author of the novel The Sunken Town and the co-founder of the nonprofit Writing By Writers. During her long career in nonprofits, she has protected open space, funded cancer research, trained people to complete endurance events, and helped writers bring their work into the world. When not organizing writing workshops, she can be found hiking with her dog, reading, traveling, experimenting in the kitchen, and hosting dinner parties. She writes for various publications and is currently at work on her next novel.
Editorial Reviews
“…Both a spell-binding thriller and a profound meditation on the role of nature and nurture in human destiny. Bravo!” —Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls and the North Bath Trilogy
“You will care about the outcomes of these intimately and complexly drawn characters in this intricately plotted, page-turner of a debut.” —Pam Houston, author of Without Reclaiming Abortion, Personhood, and Freedom
“In the tradition of Tartt’s The Secret History and Makkai’s I Have Some Questions for You, The Sunken Town probes the life or death secrets of an elite east coast school and the trio of glamorous 'Royals' who seem to rule it. Gripping, illuminating, and creepy in all the best ways, Nelson’s mother/daughter narrators will hook you from page one.” —Gina Frangello, author of Blow Your House A Story of Family, Feminism, and Treason & A Life In Men
Lindsay, a thirty-year-old California native, never gave much thought to being adopted. When she unexpectedly inherits her birth mother Claire's farmhouse in Maine, she is plunged into a journey across the country and across the years into a lake of secrets that will ultimately reveal just how far everyone was willing to go to protect her. Told from both Lindsay's and Claire's points of view, The Sunken Town explores adoption, identity, 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 the author of the novel The Sunken Town and the co-founder of the nonprofit Writing By Writers. During her long career in nonprofits, she has protected open space, funded cancer research, trained people to complete endurance events, and helped writers bring their work into the world. When not organizing writing workshops, she can be found hiking with her dog, reading, traveling, experimenting in the kitchen, and hosting dinner parties. She writes for various publications and is currently at work on her next novel.
Editorial Reviews
“…Both a spell-binding thriller and a profound meditation on the role of nature and nurture in human destiny. Bravo!” —Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls and the North Bath Trilogy
“You will care about the outcomes of these intimately and complexly drawn characters in this intricately plotted, page-turner of a debut.” —Pam Houston, author of Without Reclaiming Abortion, Personhood, and Freedom
“In the tradition of Tartt’s The Secret History and Makkai’s I Have Some Questions for You, The Sunken Town probes the life or death secrets of an elite east coast school and the trio of glamorous 'Royals' who seem to rule it. Gripping, illuminating, and creepy in all the best ways, Nelson’s mother/daughter narrators will hook you from page one.” —Gina Frangello, author of Blow Your House A Story of Family, Feminism, and Treason & A Life In Men
- GenresFiction
250 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 6, 2024
16 people are currently reading
7664 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 22, 2025
I loved this book! Couldn’t put it down! Nelson vividly tells the stories of Lindsay and Claire, set both on a Maine college campus in the 90’s and current day in CA and Maine. It is a story about mother/daughter relationships, the complexities of adoption, the idea of nature vs nurture, and the idea of past secrets and how they impact one’s future and identity. Highly recommend for a good book club discussion and can’t wait for my book club to discuss it next month!
February 22, 2025
The Sunken Town by Karen Nelson explores secrets, destiny and the meaning of family in this page turning thriller. Nelson deftly develops characters who are multidimensional and believable. There is no moralizing, the reader is able to understand the “why” of the choices and secrets. I couldn’t put it down!
April 20, 2025
I didn’t expect much from this book since I won it on a giveaway, she’s a debut author, and I’ve gotten some duds before. The author had signed the book and I felt like if she put in that extra something it was worth a read.
I read the whole book in two days and couldn’t put it down. She dives between both the mother and daughter seamlessly leaving both relatable. It’s a great story and well written.
I felt like the ending could’ve had a bit more closure. She didn’t well with the resolve between Lindsey and the other characters she interacted with but I felt like Lindsey’s internal choice on her future was unresolved. I think it could’ve used an epilogue even if it were just her and the dog managing between the two homes and in therapy because she didn’t feel complete yet but she was on the path. This definitely might hit different if you’re closer to adoption in your life.
Overall I would definitely recommend giving this a read. And I look forward to more books from this author.
I read the whole book in two days and couldn’t put it down. She dives between both the mother and daughter seamlessly leaving both relatable. It’s a great story and well written.
I felt like the ending could’ve had a bit more closure. She didn’t well with the resolve between Lindsey and the other characters she interacted with but I felt like Lindsey’s internal choice on her future was unresolved. I think it could’ve used an epilogue even if it were just her and the dog managing between the two homes and in therapy because she didn’t feel complete yet but she was on the path. This definitely might hit different if you’re closer to adoption in your life.
Overall I would definitely recommend giving this a read. And I look forward to more books from this author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 25, 2025
This is an excellent book. I enjoyed the descriptive style and the settings and characters seemed very familiar to me. The metaphor of the "sunken town" provides a creepy and illuminating background for a tale about what lies beneath the surface of seemingly perfect lives. The Sunken Town is a captivating and highly recommended read.
June 18, 2025
I really enjoyed The Sunken Town and was swept along with the parallel stories. I understood the generational story line of both characters following the weaving questions within families - mothers - fathers - and daughters- along with East and West Coast communities.
This story had me reading way past my bedtime. Congratulations.
This story had me reading way past my bedtime. Congratulations.
December 28, 2024
Alternating points of view across generations, a family mystery, and a love triangle - what’s not to love?? Nelson paints an intriguing, beguiling tale about the depth of mother - daughter relationships and the strength of young love.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 15, 2025
Loved the story and the characters. I’m not sure I fully understand the ending and wish it had been more definitive. But overall, a great read!
Thank you Goodreads for allowing me to win this boom!!
Thank you Goodreads for allowing me to win this boom!!
November 23, 2025
Great read!
December 30, 2024
Given the universal, almost primal, subject matter of mother-daughter stories, there are many of them out there. This one is exceptional. Beautifully written by author Karen Nelson, its story takes the reader into the timelines of two seemingly disparate women who never met ... save for the brief moment of the younger one’s birth.
Claire life exists in the past, where she lived as a vibrant, intelligent woman who traverses her difficult circumstances with a certain fierceness and dedication to being fully herself. At a Maine private school after her parents’ unexpected deaths, she slowly gravitates toward “the Royals,” the most elite and coveted group of students who become her friends, lovers, and tormenters. When she finds herself inconveniently pregnant, and it’s clear the father’s upper crust, overpowering family plan to take over the direction of her life from that moment forward, she surreptitiously, and permanently, disappears from the scene by faking her own death, giving up her baby to adoption, and absconding into obscurity.
Woven in between Claire’s story we meet Lindsay, who we immediately discern is Claire’s now-grown daughter. Unaware of who her mother is—was—Lindsay is stunned to receive a letter informing her of her biological mother’s death and her subsequent deeding of a large, beautiful property in Maine to her daughter.
From there, Lindsay’s life goes into a kind of freefall, where she’s forced to balance conflicting emotions regarding her beloved but sometimes difficult adoptive parents, face the reality of this enormous bequeathment, decide how much of her mother’s past she wants to explore, and find equilibrium within her growing struggle to discern where she fits in all this, where she belongs, who she belong to and with, and how she wants to define her life going forward.
Both women are compelling, emotionally engaging, and deeply human characters. I followed their individual stories with empathy and interest and found the page-turning aspects of unfolding events to be both unexpected and expertly crafted, all leading to a meaningful and touching ending. An excellent read by every metric.
Claire life exists in the past, where she lived as a vibrant, intelligent woman who traverses her difficult circumstances with a certain fierceness and dedication to being fully herself. At a Maine private school after her parents’ unexpected deaths, she slowly gravitates toward “the Royals,” the most elite and coveted group of students who become her friends, lovers, and tormenters. When she finds herself inconveniently pregnant, and it’s clear the father’s upper crust, overpowering family plan to take over the direction of her life from that moment forward, she surreptitiously, and permanently, disappears from the scene by faking her own death, giving up her baby to adoption, and absconding into obscurity.
Woven in between Claire’s story we meet Lindsay, who we immediately discern is Claire’s now-grown daughter. Unaware of who her mother is—was—Lindsay is stunned to receive a letter informing her of her biological mother’s death and her subsequent deeding of a large, beautiful property in Maine to her daughter.
From there, Lindsay’s life goes into a kind of freefall, where she’s forced to balance conflicting emotions regarding her beloved but sometimes difficult adoptive parents, face the reality of this enormous bequeathment, decide how much of her mother’s past she wants to explore, and find equilibrium within her growing struggle to discern where she fits in all this, where she belongs, who she belong to and with, and how she wants to define her life going forward.
Both women are compelling, emotionally engaging, and deeply human characters. I followed their individual stories with empathy and interest and found the page-turning aspects of unfolding events to be both unexpected and expertly crafted, all leading to a meaningful and touching ending. An excellent read by every metric.
August 7, 2025
How many of us get a glimpse of what another life might have been like?
A young college-aged woman, Claire, fakes her suicide and disappears to birth a daughter she then gives up for adoption. That same woman, when decades later she dies, leaves her home to her daughter.
The adopted child, Lindsay, grows up to be a woman, so well-loved that she is not the least curious about her birth mother. But when she inherits her birth mother’s house, life goes in another direction, she is destined to learn the circumstances of her birth and faced with conflicting destinies.
A dual timeline structure, alternating between Maine and California, serves to tell mother’s and daughter’s stories effectively, and they are beautifully braided together with no jarring changes of narrative voice. Believable characters: I especially liked Lauren, Claire's neighbor and friend, who helps Lindsay navigate and digest the experience of discovering the truth of her birth and her mother's life.
A well-told story that kept me turning the pages. The sunken town of the title stands in for what is submerged in all our lives that deserves surfacing.
A young college-aged woman, Claire, fakes her suicide and disappears to birth a daughter she then gives up for adoption. That same woman, when decades later she dies, leaves her home to her daughter.
The adopted child, Lindsay, grows up to be a woman, so well-loved that she is not the least curious about her birth mother. But when she inherits her birth mother’s house, life goes in another direction, she is destined to learn the circumstances of her birth and faced with conflicting destinies.
A dual timeline structure, alternating between Maine and California, serves to tell mother’s and daughter’s stories effectively, and they are beautifully braided together with no jarring changes of narrative voice. Believable characters: I especially liked Lauren, Claire's neighbor and friend, who helps Lindsay navigate and digest the experience of discovering the truth of her birth and her mother's life.
A well-told story that kept me turning the pages. The sunken town of the title stands in for what is submerged in all our lives that deserves surfacing.
March 9, 2025
I really enjoyed this book! It is a debut novel that masterfully weaves together two parallel narratives—one set in the past and the other in the present. These interwoven stories kept me engaged from start to finish. They highlight the complexities of friendship and delve deeply into the intricate dynamics of mother-daughter relationships, adoption, love, and college life.
The characters are incredibly relatable, and I was especially drawn to Claire and Lauren's profound "ride or die" friendship. Their bond, forged during their college years and persisting beyond the grave, resonated with me and added richness to the story.
This debut author has an impressive gift for storytelling, and I can't wait to see what she creates next! I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a captivating, heartfelt read.
The characters are incredibly relatable, and I was especially drawn to Claire and Lauren's profound "ride or die" friendship. Their bond, forged during their college years and persisting beyond the grave, resonated with me and added richness to the story.
This debut author has an impressive gift for storytelling, and I can't wait to see what she creates next! I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a captivating, heartfelt read.
September 1, 2025
While I won this book in a giveaway, the synopsis is what drew me in to enter the giveaway in the first place. But once I picked it up, I was hooked from the very first page. It details the complexity of a life lived based on the decision of a young mother to give her daughter to for adoption. Through the journal entries of Claire, we see a glimpse into what her life had been like and the life she was trying to protect Lindsey from. From Lindsey’s point of view, we see what life was like growing up with the knowledge that she was adopted, yet having no desire to seek out her birth family. From the very first page, the story captivates and holds your attention.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2025
The Sunken Town is a wonderful book that drew me in before I had even finished the first chapter. This skillfully composed debut novel by Karen Nelson features relatable and complex characters who face challenges that I’ve never encountered before.
Reading this page-tuner, I enjoyed the author’s writing style, especially her ability to create vivid and engaging scenes.
As someone who is more inclined to read non-fiction, the accounts of the two main characters are written so realistically that at times I actually forgot that I was reading a novel. I highly recommend this book!
Reading this page-tuner, I enjoyed the author’s writing style, especially her ability to create vivid and engaging scenes.
As someone who is more inclined to read non-fiction, the accounts of the two main characters are written so realistically that at times I actually forgot that I was reading a novel. I highly recommend this book!
December 8, 2024
I read this book on the edge of my seat. I love the kind of book where the MC doesn't know who she is and has to research and find out. Self-discovery like a detective. Love that! The metaphor of the sunken town in the lake is the mysterious background for this tale of who killed whom, who failed whom, who lied, who told the truth. Flashbacks to the adoptive mother's POV tells the reader more than the MC knows. It's a fascinating balance of knowledge. I enjoyed this book deeply. It's a keeper!
did-not-finish
July 5, 2025I was absorbed for the first 20% of this book and then the story became so implausible to me. I just didn't believe the people or the dialogue. This is probably a book I would have finished a few years ago, and I appreciate many folks have enjoyed it (the GR rating is four star plus) but as I get older I have a much lower threshold for punching through with books I don't love. It just wasn't for me.
December 8, 2024
A terrific novel about two strong women on opposite sides of the country, each determined to create her own life no matter the obstacles. The first chapter kicks off with an accident and a secret, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Great writing—not an extra word to be found. I loved it!
March 5, 2025
I was left floating
For me, this book was only fair. Because I have worked with foster & adopted youth for years, I continued reading to the end. I was shocked when I turned the page & the book was finished.
For me, this book was only fair. Because I have worked with foster & adopted youth for years, I continued reading to the end. I was shocked when I turned the page & the book was finished.
June 16, 2025
I struggled between 2 and 3 stars. Went with three. There were just way too many descriptive paragraphs. Lindsay was exhausting. Her rambling thoughts really went nowhere. Not a book I would recommend to my fellow readers
June 20, 2025
Book was okay. The parts in the past were boring because we already know everything that happened because it was told in the present. Having the past told as journal entries was ludicrous. No one would keep that detailed of a journal complete with word for word conversations.
December 8, 2024
I loved everything about this book and didn't want it to end. It has everything I love: family secrets, mother-daughter relationships, and more. Great writing, too.
January 5, 2025
The novel starts with a bang and pulls you along.
A satisfyingly good read!
A satisfyingly good read!
February 3, 2025
Compelling story from start to finish. Really enjoyed this book!
July 3, 2025
Mehhhh - barely remember what it was about
Would not recommend
Would not recommend
December 9, 2024
I’ve read this one probably a million times. 😉
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews