The Day the Falls Stood Still ~ A Mezmorizing Read!!

"Beyond the hedge and gate marking the perimeter of the academy, and the steep descent leading to the wooded shore, I can see the upper river and the falls. Endless water plummets from the brink to the rocks below, like the careless who slip, like the stunters who fail, like the suicidal who leap. I nudge my attention downriver, to clouds of rising mist."
(Buchanan 2009:5)

I grew up in Ontario, discovered the falls like most Ontarians in my youth through family day trips. Its majesty and awe inspiring splendor, though tarnished by the wild build up of tourist traps and bizarre attractions, has retained its grandiose magnificence and remains a natural wonder to be marvelled! Though I had heard tales of death defying feats involving barrels and the rush of urges to defeat nature, to win over it and bond it up, harness its power, never had I felt its allure more than reading Cathy Marie Buchanan's The Day The Falls Stood Still.
Cathy Marie Buchanan
Buchanan's debut novel reads nothing like a first attempt but rather as the product of a long literary career. It is both lyrical and eloquently written with historical acumen. A haunting love story so deeply entrenched in its resplendent setting as to render it spellbinding.

It is the story of Bess Heath, a young girl living with her family in picturesque Niagara Falls during the rise of Hydro Electric power. It is the early 1900s and Bess's father once the director of the Niagara Power Company finds himself out of work. The family finds themselves in reduced circumstances and soon only their daughters can bring them the hope of social standing through their marital choices. Bess however discovers the truth of love with a Niagara "riverman".

Tom Cole knows the river as though it is an extension of his being. His admiration for the natural wonder of the falls, it's whirlpool, and the river, extends beyond the power of its harnessed energies to a respect and awareness of its natural force and its preservation. A hero in his own right--daring to rescue those lured by the danger of the falls--but not one with status and social standing, Tom Cole loves Bess with a passion and care even stronger than the power of his beloved falls! Through fateful family tragedy and loss, Bess is heartened by a metaphysical world Tom has introduced to her which parallels the mystic nature of the mists of the falls and the mysteries of the river.

"Even Mrs. Stowe had written about the lure of the falls, the sudden impulse that seized her when she gazed too long. I take Life and Letters of Harriet Beecher Stowe from the secretary and easily enough find the passage. "I felt as if I could have gone over with the waters; it would be so beautiful a death; there would be no fear in it."Though she does not say it, it seems Mrs. Stowe had the wherewithal for careful deliberation, even at the brink. It seems her more rational mind prevailed."(Buchanan 2009:123-124)

Buchanan captures the period striking a personal cord through authentic, honest characters. She pulls the strings which bind us to the past, the strings of universal emotion and wonderment. A deluge of emotions washed over me as I was plunged into the lush history of the falls and its surroundings. The lure of the falls has never felt as strong even as I recall my misted face and the roar of falling waters! Now I feel the lure of not only the plummeting cascade but of the people whose lives unfolded beneath its mists.

Become immersed in the unforgettable history of Niagara Falls through the lives of Cathy Buchanan's characters by reading The Day the Falls Stood Still.
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