Why I Love Fan Mail by Cathy Marie Buchanan

My Very Favourite Fan Mail

Most writers will tell you that hearing from readers makes their day. As I reread all the lovely notes and letters I’ve received, I realized just how much my readers’ kind words have stayed with me over the year since The Day the Falls Stood Still launched.

The story was inspired my William “Red” Hill, a riverman with an uncanny ability to predict the often erratic behavior of the Niagara River and Falls. The scrap of paper on which the first of the below notes was written was pressed into my hand by his 94-year old daughter, Edith, at a reading I gave in Niagara Falls. I include it here, along with others, each of which has touched me in some way.

z

“I have just read your novel about the falls and my dad and others. I congratulate you for a wonderful novel. It sure brought memories back. Also, I lived on May Avenue for 30 years and attended Loretto for a short while. As they say, “It’s a small world.” Thank you for your interest in my family and a really great novel.” –Edith Adeline Hill-Powell, born 1915

Note – Loretto is the convent school where The Day the Falls Stood Still opens in 1915, and May Avenue is the street where my riverman makes a home with his wife.

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“Congratulations on your skill in combining the history of Niagara with such a beautiful love story. I was so caught up in the story, in the lives of Bess and Tom, and feel richer for having read it. You leave me wishing for your next book right now!”–Charlotte

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“Thank you for writing The Day the Falls Stood Still. It was with a great deal of appreciation that I read your book. It evoked for me not only my own childhood around Niagara Falls but gave me a unique look into what life must have been like for my grandmother, who must have been near the same age as your narrator, Bess.

I am homesick for Niagara and collect Niagara postcards, guidebooks, old letters and ephemera. My most favorite is this little slip of paper, no wider than one and a half inches, which has somehow survived for 180 years. It is a certificate given to those who have dared walk on a rocky ledge running behind the falls.

Thanks for the wonderful trip in time.” –Jean

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“The Day the Falls Stood Still is one of the best books I have ever read, tears and all. At 88, I have read many books and you are in my top ten! I am looking forward to your next venture. Health and happiness to you.” –Marie

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“I am reading your book, The Day the Falls Stood Still, and have to say, I am having a hard time putting it down! It's been a long time since a book has captivated me like this one has!

This week my husband, two kids, and I went to Niagara Falls to see the sights. As we were walking along the Falls I was thinking about your book: the history, the stories about Fergus and Tom, all of it. I have seen the Falls many times before, but now, they have so much more meaning to me.

Believe it or not, as we were driving around the city we came across Loretto Academy, and I literally shouted out, ‘Oh my God, this is the convent school from the book I am reading! Stop the car!’ My daughter and I climbed out, and I just stared at the building. It was so cool to see the former academy and the windows overlooking the Falls, as described in your book.

Thank you for writing such a gem. Please keep writing; I will be waiting for your next book with baited breath.” –Christine

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“I just had to write to tell you that your book touched me on too many levels to count. I’m sure by now you’ve heard a great deal of praise about your flawless prose, compelling story, and that your setting is a memorable character in itself. I’ve seen several readers remark that you transported them to another time and made them forget the real world for awhile. For me, though, it was your theme about faith in those things that you can’t see that moved me most of all.”–Kim

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“I just finished The Day The Falls Stood Still. It is a beautiful, moving story. The flap contains no mention of the grief thread interwoven into the story so it took me a bit by surprise. My oldest son was killed in an accident a few years ago, and after a long period of being unable to read, I have slowly begun reading again in the last six months. Your portrayal of the suddenness of death and the loss of faith that can happen in its wake, and then the coming to terms and moving forward was spot on. I was moved to tears. Thank you for a lovely, compassionate and hopeful story. I wish you all the best and am looking forward to reading your next novel.”–Michelle

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“I very much enjoyed your book, and your adept mixing of fact and fiction. I thought Tom was a terrific character, what we would call a conservationist today. I thought his fears about so-called progress and the impact of the tunnels and canals diverting water away from the falls for hydroelectricity made the book feel really relevant. Interesting, that all these years later, we are still struggling with how to meet our demands for electricity and decisions about the sacrifices to the natural world we are prepared to live with. Well done.” –Jeff

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Go ahead. Make your favourite writer’s day.

Cathy Marie Buchanan is the author of The Day the Falls Stood Still, which was just recently released in paperback. To learn more about her and her book be sure to stop by her website!

Guest Post: Starting With Setting by Cathy Marie Buchanan

When I set out to write my debut novel, The Day the Falls Stood Still, setting is where I started. I expect it is more usual for a writer to have the backbone of a plot in mind or maybe the rough framework of a character, but such was not the case for me. And I do think the unusual choice of starting with setting was the result of me coming from a place with such a storied past. Born and bred in Niagara Falls, I grew up awash in the endless local lore─the Maid of the Mist and her canoe, Sir Isaac Brock and the War of 1812, Blondin and his tightrope, Annie Taylor and her barrel, William “Red” Hill and his daring rescues, Sir Adam Beck and hydroelectricity… The list goes on and on. Add into the mix, the staggering beauty of the falls themselves, and I don’t think starting with other than the setting of Niagara Falls was ever a possibility.

Credit: Niagara Falls (Ontario) Public Library

Credit: George Barker, Library and Archives Canada, PA-181218

Credit: Niagara Falls Pubic Library, Niagara Falls, NY

To begin, I turned to books surveying Niagara’s history. What I was seeking, as I read, was the time period and narrative that best showcased Niagara’s wondrous and quirky past. The story of William “Red” Hill, Niagara’s most famous riverman, came up time and again. I’d grown up seeing the rusted-out hull of the old scow that’s still lodged above the falls and knew he rescued the men marooned there in 1918. I’d heard about the tragedy that had taken place during the winter of 1912 when loads of tourists were out blithely crossing the river and the ice suddenly broke up, and knew from childhood that the incident would have been a whole lot worse had Red Hill not intervened. As I read, those bits of lore ignited, and I became more certain my main male character would be a riverman loosely based on Red Hill.

The character I came up with was Tom Cole. Like Tom Cole, Red Hill was extraordinarily courageous and had an uncanny ability to predict the often erratic behavior of the Niagara River and Falls. It’s been said that Red Hill could predict the weather simply by listening to the roar of the falls, also that he would wake in the night knowing he would find a body tossing in the river the following day. In his lifetime (1888-1942) he hauled 177 bodies from the river, rescued 29 people, and assisted a handful of stunters. He was the only man alive to have been awarded four lifesaving medals ─ the first, at the age of seven, for saving his aunt from a flame-engulfed house; another for rescuing the whistling swans that were swept over the falls each winter onto the ice below; and two more for the ice bridge and scow rescues, both of which are retold in The Day the Falls Stood Still.

At one point in the story, Tom Cole describes Niagara Falls as “something that would cause a man walking by to stop, and maybe fill with wonder for a bit and be lifted up from the drudgery of his day.” It is something I have experienced, something that I hope to have captured by choosing to set The Day the Falls Stood Still in Niagara Falls.

Cathy Marie Buchanan is the author of The Day the Falls Stood Still. To learn more about her and her book, you can check out her website.

The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan

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 the 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, Bess’s vivacious older sister, is a shadow of her former self. She has shut herself in her bedroom, barely eating and harboring 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 falls for themselves. As the couple’s 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.

From Harper Collins.ca

After finishing The Outlander by Gil Adamson, I thought I had found my favourite Canadian history read of the year. I loved it because it was about an aspect of Canadian history that does not normally include women and because it was written in such a fantastic manner. I honestly did not think anything would come close to matching it. Then, I read the debut novel by Cathy Marie Buchanan and I was blown away all over again! I wouldn't say I like this book better than The Outlander, but I would say that it is a tie. I suppose that means you can expect another glowing review!

This book was just involved in a blog tour, so I know that it is probably getting a bit overdone, but I do have to say a few things about it. One of the things that I loved about it was the fact that I have been to Niagara Falls, so I knew the places that were being talked about. That's something I do enjoy about the books I read from time to time. Sometimes it is nice to step out of your normal comfort zone, but other times it is nice to be able to really see where the book is being set. I also went through a period where I was obsessed with the history of Niagara Falls. Buchanan is pretty accurate in my humble opinion with her facts. When she changes them, though, there is a note at the back to explain that she did and why she did it.
I also loved the characters. I really felt for them. They were living during the Depression and then World War II. It was not a happy time and lots of other things happened to them on top of the global ones. It was a difficult period in their lives, but I think that Buchanan carried it out really well. You could almost think too much bad stuff happened and it was a bit unbelievable, but that isn't how I felt at all! The best thing of all is that this topic is essentially an issue that we are only now getting bent out of shape about. The abuse of the environment for our own gain. It's terrible the things that we have done to nature in order to benefit ourselves. I found learning what the power plants do to the falls fascinating!
There are so many wonderful things I could say about this book, but I hate being one of a bunch of reviews of the same book. People get bored! I couldn't not review it at all, though, because I loved it and I think lots and lots of people still need to read it. Buchanan captured everything so well, it is really a wonderfully written novel that deserves all the praise in the world. If you haven't read it yet, you should!
By the way, isn't that just about the most wonderful cover ever? See, that is what a cover should be like. Not those annoying headless women!
My thanks to Harper Collins Canada for sending me this book!

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