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Literary Fiction · MelancholicAn aging writer drives back to the Pennsylvania town where he grew up and finds it under water
The Waters of Kronos
1960175 pagesEasy readSlow pace
★ National Book Award for Fiction, 1961
An aging writer returns to the town he grew up in, which now lies under a reservoir
John Donner is an aging writer who drives back to Unionville, Pennsylvania, the town where he grew up. A dam built to power a hydroelectric plant has submerged it under the Kronos River. He visits the relocated cemeteries, and his journey leads him somewhere unexpected. Knopf published the novel in 1960.
More about this book
Who
John Donner, an aging writer.
World
Unionville, Pennsylvania, a town submerged beneath the Kronos River after a dam was built.
What makes it different
The town he grew up in is underwater, and the relocated cemeteries are part of his journey.
Feel
Quiet and elegiac. It won the 1961 National Book Award for Fiction.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- The Waters of KronosWikipedia