AMHERST — When the four Quabbin towns were disincorporated in April 1938, it was more than just a legal decision. Families that had lived in the towns for generations were forced to move, separating from friends, neighbors, and relatives.

Local author Elena Palladino will talk about all this and more on Friday, Nov. 17, at noon in the Woodbury Room of Jones Library in Amherst.

Palladino lives in one of the homes whose elements were moved out of Enfield. In her book, Lost Towns of the Swift River Valley, she writes about the former owner of the house, Marion Andrews Smith, and highlights as well two other Enfield residents: Dr. Willard Segur, the country doctor, and Edwin Henry Howe, the postmaster and proprietor of the general store, all of whom had deep personal ties to the Swift River Valley.