The Town That Drowned
Ruby is the main character of this novel and the story is told entirely from her point of view. She is a 14‑year-old girl. Near the beginning of the book she has a vision of some of the townspeople swimming around her and one person happens to be someone she had never seen before. Ruby gets bullied at school (mainly by June Crouse) as a result of this incident. To make things worse, she has a unique brother who is seen as a freak by others. She receives suspicion after the townspeople learn that her house would be saved from being flooded (Later on, it is revealed that Ruby had to move anyway since the water went further than expected). Her best friend and cousin is Sarah Carson who was always there for Ruby. However, in that year, Sarah moved to another town and leaving Ruby to face her troubles on her own. Later on in the story Ruby falls in love with Troy Rutherford, who happens to be her first love.
Jack Ruby
Ruby was the fifth of his parents' 10 surviving children. While he was growing up, his parents were often violent towards each other and regularly temporarily separating; Ruby's mother was eventually committed to a mental hospital. His troubled childhood and adolescence was marked by juvenile delinquency with time being spent in foster homes. At age 11 in 1922, he was arrested for truancy. Ruby eventually skipped school enough times that he spent time at the Institute for Juvenile Research. Still a young man, he sold horse-racing tip sheets and various novelties, then acted as business agent for a local refuse collectors union that later became part of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT).