At the bottom of Lake Ruin is a hole, perhaps a passageway. In it, Marietta Abernathy can hide away the items she collects from a dying world. And she can commune with the Women Beneath, all dead of violence. Perhaps it is to the hole at the bottom of the lake where Marietta flees when she disappears from her jail cell. Her 16-year-old daughter, Lena, is not quite certain. All she knows is that her mother, a second-generation pariah in their isolated northern town, is gone and has left behind only strange clues and a legacy of both suffering and resilience.

Lena narrates parts of Tegan Nia Swanson’s debut novel, THINGS WE FOUND WHEN THE WATER WENT DOWN, a work of speculative fiction composed of interviews, recollections, myths, poetry, dreams and visual collages, as well as Lena’s account of the search for her mother.

"Swanson’s book is one of fragments and glimpses, metaphors and nightmares, violence and longing. There is beauty in her work, and patient readers will find much to admire and contemplate here."

In November 2016, Beau Caelais’ local psychopath, Hugo Mitchum, was found dead in the water. Marietta was arrested for his murder two days later, which came as no surprise to anyone, not even to her daughter. She was an outspoken activist, railing against the environmental crimes of area businesses and standing up to figures like Hugo. However, Lena learns that Marietta and Hugo had a darker connection after she somehow escapes from or is moved from her jail cell, leaving behind only a puddle of water. Lena’s father, Patrick, slides into a deep depression, leaving the teen to fend for herself and search for her mother alone.

Lena begins to more fully understand Marietta and Marietta’s own mother, Ursa, who was murdered many years ago. Marietta created and managed the Paper Moon Menagerie, a museum that gathers natural ephemera of ecological and emotional import. She curates this collection of magical and devasting pieces with an obsession that Lena can only begin to understand and that gives some insight into her mother’s psyche.

Looking for Marietta is more than just trying to figure out where she may be. For Lena, it’s about truly understanding who her enigmatic mother really is and the beliefs and events that led to her arrest. It’s also about sifting through layers of story, secrets, nature and personal history to uncover what is hidden by Ruin Lake and generations of people along the Inland Sea. Marietta’s story is also Ursa's story, and Hugo’s story is also that of a quiet and damaged man named Ellis Olsen. Readers will discover, along with Lena, that Ellis plays a large part in the drama surrounding the missing and the dead.

THINGS WE FOUND WHEN THE WATER WENT DOWN has been called a “Nordic eco-noir,” and it is hard to pen a more apt description. Frozen lakes and rustic cabins, mining camps and rough bars, set the scene for this fantastical tale with its inventive composition. Swanson’s book is one of fragments and glimpses, metaphors and nightmares, violence and longing. There is beauty in her work, and patient readers will find much to admire and contemplate here.