Water Dreaming is a haunting portrayal of the historic destruction of the Swift River Valley in western Massachusetts during the 1930s. In order to provide water for Boston, the 1927 Swift River Act authorized a reservoir’s construction. Towns were emptied of their people, both the living and those buried. Buildings were removed or razed. Vegetation was cleared, its remains burned. It took seven years for Quabbin Reservoir to fill to its capacity, transforming a region that once held families and memories into 412,000,000,000 gallons of water.

Callanan’s poetry takes readers to a time and world long forgotten, forever changed. Her invention of Cora Snow as girl, then spirit, is both unique and chilling, serving to humanize a moment in history that few will recall. One thing is certain: for those who read these poems, the Swift River Valley will never be forgotten again.