The Lasting Influence of Colby
More than 30 years later, memories of a COOT trip surface in new novel
Karen Nelson ’93 graduated from Colby many years ago and lives many miles away in California. But when it was time to write her first novel, Nelson drew heavily on her time at Colby and in Maine.
The Sunken Town is about a 30-year-old California woman named Lindsay, who happens to be adopted and unexpectedly inherits her birth mother’s farmhouse in Maine. This sets off a cross-country journey of personal discovery.
In writing the book, Nelson—who herself was adopted—was inspired by the landscape of Maine, her Colby experiences, and, very specifically, her COOT trip as a first-year student, which involved canoeing across Flagstaff Lake and hiking Mount Bigelow in western Maine. Created by a dam, the lake covers the abandoned and submerged towns of Flagstaff, Bigelow, Dead River, and Carrying Place.
“The fact that there was that hidden town under the water really just captivated me, and it kind of freaked me out. But it always stuck with me,” Nelson said. “It ends up being essentially the central metaphor for the book. Everything looks wonderful on the surface, but once you start to look underneath, you discover what’s hidden and what’s been suppressed.”
The memory of those abandoned towns stayed with her, even haunted her, and surfaced as she began developing her characters and storyline. The story is set in a fictional town that took inspiration from her Colby experience and the beauty that surrounds Mayflower Hill. The Sunken Town is the author’s debut novel and follows her work as cofounder of the nonprofit Writing By Writers, whose mission is to create an environment to learn the art of reading and writing from accomplished authors through workshops and other events.
During a long career in the nonprofit sector, she has protected open spaces, funded cancer research, trained people to complete endurance events, and helped writers bring their work into the world. She’s continued her connection with Colby over the years, offering her expertise, counsel, and advice to Colby students, whether on writing or her work in nonprofits.
Memories aside, Colby’s influence presented itself in other tangible, practical ways as Nelson began writing a draft. She majored in government and minored in creative writing, and among her writing professors and mentors were Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Russo and Jennifer Finney Boylan, a prolific and award-winning writer.
They overlapped in Colby’s Creative Writing Program while Nelson was a student. Both were influential and inspiring, Russo especially so because he supervised her senior thesis. He also wrote a blurb for her book (“Both a spell-binding thriller and a profound meditation on the role of nature and nurture in human destiny.”) and showed up at a recent reading Nelson hosted in Portland, Maine.
Nelson lived and worked in the Boston area after graduating from Colby before returning to California, where she grew up. Wherever she has lived, Colby has never been far removed from anything she has done.
“I didn’t set out to write about Colby, but I found once I started writing, things came back to me. It was such an impactful experience to be in that environment. And I just loved it. I loved everything about it,” she said.
“And despite the time and distance, in many ways, I’ve never felt particularly disconnected. My best friend from college is still my best friend, and Colby does such a great job connecting with their alumni. The community feels small, which is nice.”
