Maryanne O'Hara's first novel, Cascade, provides a fictionalized account of the attempted flooding of a small town in Western Massachusetts. Something like this really happened, of course, in the 30s, when the creation of the Quabbin reservoir 65 miles east of our fair city flooded not just one, but four towns: Dana, Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott.

The image of a drowned town once alive with community and history has been an enticing one for storytellers, including South End novelist, Sue Miller, who also used the metaphor in her 2001 novel, The World Below.

O'Hara's Cascade refers not to the flood, but to the actual town in which the main character, Desdemona, is born and raised. When Cascade is jeopardized by the damming of a nearby river, she fights for her own survival as an artist and a wife, as well as the town's. "Gorgeously written," said Caroline Leavitt, who reviewed it this summer for The Boston Globe.

O'Hara's reading on Thursday, October 25, starts at 6:30 p.m. Copies to borrow, buy and sign are available at the event.