Bess Heath is 15 years old and looking forward to her final year at an exclusive girl's academy. However, on her last day at the academy she is informed that she will not be returning to complete her graduating year. Her father has lost his job at the Niagara Power Company. Thus begins Bess' new life, complete with a sister rejected by her fiancée, a chance encounter with the "ne'er do well" Tom Cole, and having to help as a seamstress just to make ends meet.

Bess's story is the basis for the book, but this book is so much more than that. This book tells of a Niagara Falls before Clifton Hill became a tourist attraction, when dare-devils still rode over the falls in barrels and lovers still picnicked by the whirlpools. Again, as captivating as the story is the backstory of World War 1, the politics behind the Hydro Electric companies harnessing the power of the falls and the role of women during the whole period were equally as interesting.

This book is an excellent debut for Ms. Buchanan. I heard her read an excerpt from her book at Word on the Street in 2010, purchased the book and gave it to my daughter as a Christmas gift. I never did borrow it back to read it myself so when I came upon the audio version I knew I had to listen to it. Kudos to narrator Karen White who brings Bess' voice to life. Highly recommend this book.

Looking forward to more from this new Canadian author.

This book is beautiful, heart-wrenching and powerful. I was completely immersed in the life of Bess Heath. I found myself reading about historical events and terms that I vaguely remember being forced to learn about when I was in high school with no care about them then. This book made me wish I remembered more about them, or cared more when I was 14. But when I was 14 I was going to be a Rock Star and I didn't give a hoot about what sort of Hydro Electric pacts were being made over the falls in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Whatevs! - I would scoff.

I cared deeply for Bess and her sister Isabelle and was heart broken when Bess was heart broken throughout the story. I found Bess's relationship with Mrs. Anderson endearing and touching and I often had to remind myself that as she was married on her 18th birthday, the three years that had passed while her beloved was at war made her only 21. Bess lived through more in those 3 years than I feel I have lived in my 34.

Toward the end of the novel I turned to my husband and said, "This is a book they should teach in English classes in Canada." And I mean it, I would have probably scoffed at the historical parts when I was in 10th or 11th grade (in Quebec high school is grades 7-11) but I would have fallen in love with the characters and therefore cared about what happened to the falls or to the people who drowned in them or made their livelihood from them. This book is steeped in very important Canadian history and yet it is woven so gracefully into the plot as a whole you do not feel like you're being forced to read a stuffy ol' history text book.

It has the same sort of feeling that Anne of Green Gables had, or the Little House on the Prairie series. You grow to love the characters and what they care about and you weep with them over loss as you have come to adore those that have passed away just as much as the characters do.

I myself have only been to Niagara Falls once in my life, and I don't really remember much other than that none of the boots or raincoats fit me for the Maid of the Mist boat ride and that my parents wouldn't take my sister and I to the wax museum because they said we were too young. I think I might have been 7 or 8 on this trip, 9 at the oldest. I have often said I would like to go back one day, but sadly it's very much a tourist trap these days and I don't like the crowds and of course everything is cordoned off for safety. I would love to see the falls as they were back in 1915.

The next book that Cathy Marie Buchanan puts out I am picking up without any hesitation. She created a world out of history that was so enrapturing that I was sad when I was finished with the story. I thought I was starting a new chapter when I realized that I was reading the Author's Note. Oops! I was still reeling from events that had just come to pass and wasn't paying attention to the chapter numbers! Even now I am still grieving for fictional characters that I will never get to know.

Brilliant novel that made me discover a new appreciation of Canadian history.

Every year millions of people visit Niagara Falls. It continues to be one of the top tourist destinations. If you've ever been there, you understand why. To stand at the brink of the Falls watching more than six million cubic feet cascade over the edge every minute is mine boggling. It is not a sight you will soon forget.

Author Cathy Buchanan has truly captured the majesty and excitement of the area in her novel The Day the Falls Stood Still.

The story is set in the time of World War 1 and the years afterward. Young Bess Heath has one year of school at Loretto Academy left, when her mother removes her from the school.


Her father had been working for the hydro company and has recently lost his job. Her sister's engagement has been broken. The whole family is trying to find themselves again. Into all this turmoil, add a young man that Bess has spied in the area.

I was transfixed by this book. I suppose it had to do with having grown up only fifteen minutes away from the falls. It was a common occurrence at my house to jump in the car to go and see the 'lights' at night, to go and see if the ice bridge had closed across the river below the fall. to visit for any reason.

I have watched a fair number of shows about Niagara Falls as well as stories that have been set in the town, and this book ranks at the top with the best of them. Most definitely this is the book to read if you want to get a true feeling of what the area must have been like prior to it becoming a huge tourist mecca.

The character of Tom Cole is loosely based on true life river man Red Hill.

Reminded of Mary Novik's "Conceit" in the way it was written. Very interesting that it is from the Canadian point of view of Niagara Falls during development of hydro-electricity on the falls. Great story and great writing.