Reviews for The Day the Falls Stood Still

The average rating for The Day the Falls Stood Still based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-06-10 00:00:00 Conor Mcgarry This is my debut novel. Hope you love it. On the shelves September 2009 in Canda and the US and February 2010 in the UK and Italy. What's is about? Read on. Steeped in the intriguing history of Niagara Falls, this is an epic love story as rich, spellbinding and majestic as the falls themselves. 1915. The dawn of the hydroelectric power era in Niagara Falls. Seventeen-year-old Bess Heath has led a sheltered existence as the youngest daughter of the director of the Niagara Power Company. After graduation day at her boarding school, she is impatient to return to her picturesque family home near Niagara Falls. But when she arrives, nothing is as she left it. Her father has lost his job at the power company, her mother is reduced to taking in sewing from the society ladies she once entertained, and Isabel, her vivacious older sister, is a shadow of her former self. She has shut herself in her bedroom, barely eating'and harbouring a secret. The night of her return Bess meets Tom Cole by chance on a trolley platform. She finds herself inexplicably drawn to him'against her family's strong objections. He is not from their world. Rough-hewn and fearless, he lives off what the river provides and has an uncanny ability to predict the whims of the falls. His daring river rescues render him a local hero and cast him as a threat to the power companies that seek to harness the power of the falls for themselves. As their lives become more fully entwined, Bess is forced to make a painful choice between what she wants and what is best for her family and her future. Set against the tumultuous backdrop of Niagara Falls, at a time when daredevils shot the river rapids in barrels and great industrial fortunes were made and lost as quickly as lives disappeared, The Day the Falls Stood Still is an intoxicating debut novel.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-07-09 00:00:00 Diana L Bodine A love story centered around the early 1900s when men in power were determined to harness the power of the mighty Niagara with hydroelectric power plants. Tom Cole has loved the river his entire life but also loves Bess. A love which will lead him to compromise his personal beliefs and convictions because the only way he can support his family is by working for the company that is against everything he believes in. Bess is also divided in her heart over her need for financial security versus the need to support and believe in what makes her husband the man he is. The choices and sacrifices they make will have profound consequences. The well researched and supported history is a relevant and interesting storyline in light of these current times when movements are starting up all over the United States to remove dams that seemed like a good idea at the time but exacted great losses to our natural scenic treasures and wildlife. It's told from the Canadian viewpoint and brought to mind John Muir's heartbreaking battle to save the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite. I can't help but include one of his quotes. Overall a touching, educational, and satisfying read. "It took more than three thousand years to make some of the trees in these Western woods ' trees that are still standing in perfect strength and beauty, waving and singing in the mighty forests of the Sierra. Through all the wonderful, eventful centuries ... God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand straining, leveling tempests and floods; but he cannot save them from fools." John Muir