Nebula Award Best Novel Winner

Slow River

by Nicola Griffith

Summary

Lore, the heir to a wealthy family that runs water treatment technology, is found injured and abandoned on a city street after a kidnapping, cut off from her name and fortune. To survive, she takes work at a sewage treatment plant and falls in with a woman living on the margins, while flashbacks reveal the family secrets behind her ordeal. Griffith builds a grounded, character driven near future story about class, identity, abuse, and the slow work of rebuilding a self.

Historical Context & Significance

Slow River won the Nebula Award for Best Novel and is noted for centering a queer protagonist within a near future science fiction setting.