Burton Book Review - Leafing through history: Cathy Marie Buchanan

Showing posts with label Cathy Marie Buchanan. Show all posts

Oct 3, 2009

The Sunday Salon~Pumpkins, Bookmarks & Events

BurtonReview Saturday, October 03, 2009

Happy Saturday evening and then Sunday! It is fabulous Texas fall weather, which means it can change from one day to the next, but this weekend has been quite tolerable. The pumpkin patch had its opening day, and the kiddos enjoyed the fresh air and the multitude of pumpkins! We were the first customers, spending $20 while everyone else was paying attention to opening ceremonies (we wanted the best pumpkins!) See another photo here.

I then tried my hand at some Bookmark-making, and I am just not as talented as Laura from I'm Booking It. She had a giveaway for her bookmarks and will again in a few weeks. I've got to get my hands on a bookmark of hers so I can see how she does it. See hers here and here, and then see my crappy ones:

The wire I used was 28 gauge and was thin and curly ($2.99). Those heart charms were $4 for 4 of them. I had all of the other beads already from earlier bracelet making days, but those charms and ribbon are expensive. And it was a hunt looking for sheer ribbon that was less that $4.00. The whole crimping bead at the ribbon side is aggravating for someone who is all thumbs like me. I think I put too many beads on there also. Laura has instructions here if you are in the mood to try this yourself. The first one shown has pretty glass beads that look simply white in the picture, but they are muted pastel shell colors. My favorite is the last one I did, the red beads. Maybe I'll find some other bookmark-making sites and get some inspiration for paper-type bookmarks.

Reading wise this week, I finished The Wildest Heart brick of a book and that review is scheduled to post the 19th. That took almost two weeks to finish! I am now working on Elizabeth's Women by Tracy Borman which is reading well so far. I wish historians would expand on all theories, but I guess once they form an opinion on something, they believe it full force.

The New York Times announced the third annual New York Times Great Read to be held rain or shine on Sunday, Oct. 14. www.nytimes/greatread. Did you know it will be Teen Read Week October 18 - 24th? I wrote a little article about it here, stop by! And then, the 24 hour-read-a-thon is coming October 24. Are you participating? You can even sign up to be a much needed cheerleader if you don't want to commit to reading. I will try to participate as much as possible, which means I'll just have to commit to staying off the iPhone and the computer! Last spring I was a cheerleader and was amazed at how much reading some bloggers did. I also noticed that a lot were wiped out after that, so I am going to be happy if I can fit in 8-10 hours of reading. With two kids and a house to take care of, I can't expect to ignore motherly duties altogether.

Luckier people got to visit the National Book Festival in Washington D.C. this week, and there are some fun pictures at RhapsodyInBook's blog here. All I've got to say is Dallas is a big place, so why can't we have a book festival here?

So that brings me to a Book Event that I WAS able to attend. Even though I was working, sssshh.. I attended a Teleconference on Wednesday that featured authors Cathy Marie Buchanan and special guest Sandra Gulland (author of the Mistress of the Sun and the Josephine B. trilogy). Cathy had recently written the bestseller The Day The Falls Stood Still, (see my review & her guest post) and to wrap up her blog tour they did this conference via telephone. I got to hear her voice and some of our fellow bloggers voices as well! If you want to hear what we talked about, and hear my voice (at about 36 minutes you will hear me & at the very end saying good luck to Cathy, sometimes I am a total dork).. then click this link for the audio version. You can easily scroll through and fast forward and rewind at your leisure. Participating bloggers other than myself included Margaret from Historical Novels.info, Marci from Serendipitous Readings, Julie from Booking Mama, & Nicole from Linus's Blanket. Since I was working I kept my phone muted most of the time so all of my background noise at the office wouldn't bleed through. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I did it! Go listen to it now, and learn about the historical background behind the Niagara Falls, the main characters, and the writing process for Cathy! she is now going on real-life tours at bookstores etc, and you can see her list of signing events here in NY and Canada.

This week I added a new giveaway also, for a reissue of Margaret Campbell Barnes' "The Tudor Rose". A last minute idea from Sourcebooks, so I had edited my previous review post to include the giveaway details. To enter for this book giveaway, visit the post here. And congrats to Amy at Passages To The Past on her newest electronic acquisition, who will now be as hopelessly addicted to the iPhone as much as I am. Don't forget to find a snazzy cover for it like I did =)

Happy reading!

Sep 1, 2009

Giveaway & The Retelling of William “Red” Hill’s Famous Rescues~Guest Post by Cathy Marie Buchanan, Author

BurtonReview Tuesday, September 01, 2009

The Burton Review is pleased to present the following guest post by Cathy Marie Buchanan, author of The Day The Falls Stood Still, which released August 25, 2009 by Hyperion/Voice.

The Day The Falls Stood Still (USA edition)

The Retelling of William “Red” Hill’s Famous Rescues

William “Red” Hill (right) - Niagara Falls (Ontario) Public Library

When I set out to write a novel capturing the wonder I feel while standing at the brink of Niagara Falls, the life of William “Red” Hill, Niagara’s most famous riverman, was a natural place to find inspiration. Like my imagined riverman, he had an uncanny knowledge of the Niagara River and extraordinary courage. It was said he could predict the weather simply by listening to the roar of the falls, 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 and rescued 29 people. His two most famous rescues are recounted in The Day the Falls Stood Still.

Ice bridge – George Barker, Library and Archives Canada, PA-056072

In the years before a floating ice boom was installed across the upper end of the Niagara River, an ice run from Lake Erie sometimes resulted in a bridge of ice linking the American and Canadian shores of the river at the base of the falls. The first of Red Hill’s famous rescues−the ice bridge rescue−took place in 1912. That year, temperature and wind conditions were ideal for the formation of an ice bridge, and from late January until February 4th, visitors came from far and wide to view the bridge. The most daring ventured out onto the ice to sled on the ice mound at Prospect Point, enjoy a sleigh ride, or visit the shanties selling light fare, liquor, photographs and curios. At noon time, with close to 35 people, including Red Hill, out on the ice, the bridge rumbled ominously and broke free. Red Hill recognized the sound, and headed for shore, calling out for others to follow him. With all but four adventurers cleared from the ice and what remained of the bridge drifting toward the Whirlpool Rapids, the floe began breaking up into smaller cakes. Red Hill was credited with rescuing Ignatius Roth, one of the adventurers still on the ice. The fate of the remaining three, Burrell Hecock and Mr. and Mrs. Eldridge Stanton, is described in The Day the Falls Stood Still:

“Workmen dropped ropes to the threesome from the Lower Steel Arch Bridge. The boy managed to grab hold of one but was dangling forty feet above the river when his strength gave out. The man caught a makeshift line made from three coils of insulated telephone wire, but it came apart as he was tying it around his wife’s waist. They were on their knees, praying in each other’s arms, some said, when their bit of ice overturned.”

Ice bridge tragedy. The speck on the largest cake of ice is Burrell Hecock. – Niagara Fall (Ontario) Public Library

The second of Red Hill’s famous rescues occurred on August 6, 1918, when a scow dredging the entrance of a hydroelectric canal on the river broke free of its tug and drifted toward the falls with two deckhands aboard. After becoming lodged on a rock shoal just a short way from the falls, the men worked feverishly, shifting much of the scow’s load to its bow and building a makeshift windlass from timbers pulled from the scow’s interior. A lifeline gun arrived from a nearby Life Saving Station, and a line was successfully shot to the men from the roof of one of the powerhouses on the river. By the time the line was secured to the windlass, darkness had arrived. When the lines of the breeches buoy, meant to transport the men to safety, became snarled, Red Hill went out along the lines but was unable to untangle the buoy. At dawn, he journeyed out again. The scene is described in The Day the Falls Stood Still, except that it’s my imagined riverman Tom Cole, hanging from the lines.

“The scow is held back from the brink by a bit of rocky ledge and yet it serves as anchor to the lines Tom is dangling from. Should that scow shift in the torrent of the upper rapids, should the bit of rock give way, the scow along with the tangled lines, the pulley and sling, and Tom will be pitched over the falls.”

Red Hill’s second attempt was successful, and the stranded men were returned to shore. The scow still remains at the same spot where it became stuck in 1918.

Scow rescue – Niagara Falls (Ontario) Public Library

Born and bred in Niagara Falls, Red Hill’s rescues are stories I grew up with, bits of lore I imagined time and again as I gazed out at the old scow, as I passed by the plaque commemorating the ice bridge tragedy. With their retelling in The Day the Falls Stood Still, perhaps the rescues will captivate readers as they have me. The Burton Review

A big thank you to Cathy Marie Buchanan for her wonderful insight into the majestic beauty of the Niagara and using it an intoxicating backdrop in her new book, The Day The Falls Stood Still.

See my review here, but suffice it to say, I enjoyed the novel immensely.

See the rest of Cathy's tour stops here.

Giveaway open to USA and Canada, and closes 9/19/09!

If you would like to enter for your chance to win a copy of this book please do all of the following or you will not be entered:

1. Follow this blog publicly via Google Friend/Followers

2. Comment on the previous review post.

3. Comment here with your note that you have completed one and two, and enter your email address.

4. For extra entries, you may announce this guest post and giveway: Via Twitter, Facebook, Blog Post or Blog Sidebar. Each announcement gives you one more point. You must leave the exact link to where I can verify this has been done.

I will email the winner who has 48 hours to respond with their mailing address. Good Luck!

Aug 31, 2009

Book Review: "The Day the Falls Stood Still" by Cathy Marie Buchanan

BurtonReview Monday, August 31, 2009

"The Day the Falls Stood Still" by Cathy Marie Buchanan

Hardcover: 320 pages

Fiction, Literature
Publisher: Voice (August 25, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1401340970 ISBN-13: 978-1401340971

Review copy provided by Voice
The Burton Review Rating: 4.5 Stars

"Steeped in the intriguing history of Niagara Falls, this epic love story is 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 had 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 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 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."

The Day the Falls Stood Still is a very promising debut novel by Cathy Marie Buchanan. The story is set in Canada near the Niagara where its wonderful beauty and history is emanated from Cathy's descriptions. This is the story of Bess Heath, who suddenly finds herself at a turning point in her life when everything is forced to change due to the fact that her father lost his job at the power plant. Bess's mother, father and sister are intriguing characters along with Bess herself, and we immediately get drawn into this captivating telling of this family's journey. There are quite a few supporting characters as well, each adding depth and drama to this story as Bess must make difficult choices that end up haunting her family, which cast her as a strong and brave woman.

Mr. Heath, Bess's father, loses his long-time job at the hydroelectric plant which puts the family into a downward spiral of economic hardship and despair. Although set in 1915, the modern economic times also mirrors the struggles that the Heath family faced back then, and they also had the war to deal with. Mr. Heath shuts his family out, Mrs. Heath can do little to get him out of his self-induced funk, and Bess's treasured sister Isabel is going through her own personal crisis. And through it all, Bess is watching trying to add strength to her family, as she is trying to adjust to a new way of life after her father loses his job.

A light at the end of the tunnel is when the son of a prominent family member proposes to Bess, but Bess has fallen in love with a fishmonger of whom her family strongly disapproves. And then suddenly a horrifying tragedy occurs, sending the family into an emotional spiral of grief and depression and further forces the family into the speculative limelight of gossipers. How Bess and her family deal with this tragedy is portrayed simply, but it is told with a distinct grip of grief that is significant of excellent writing that resonates throughout the novel.

All the while through this story of Bess and the trials of her family, Bess goes through her own life events of marriage, career and children which makes the book a sort of romance in the beginning; but all is told with the Niagara as an integral part to the novel and not just as a backdrop. The story of the man, Fergus Cole, who previously was a renowned riverman known for daring river rescues at the Falls, is the undercurrent in the story with interesting anecdotes about him and his rescues, which also makes the book a sort of historical. The author was inspired for this novel by the true riverman William "Red" Hill, and the rescues are depicted in the novel as well. It is cleverly portrayed through newspaper clippings along with inspiring old photos of the Falls themselves. The residents of the area were caught between the controversy of technology and development versus the preservation of the sanctity of the Falls and the river, and serves as a theme throughout this novel as Bess finds herself right in the middle of the issues.

This is an informative look on the impact of both the electric powerhouses of the times, and the majestic force of the Niagara. The story moves swiftly and is sadly poignant but engrossing all the same. Giving the novel an even more realistic flavor is the attention given to the dressmaking projects that Bess takes on, as this is how many women helped to support the family in the days of WWI. The few criticisms I have is that the book ended, and that the back cover exposes a major turning point in the book that should not have been given away on the back cover (which will not be divulged here). This is not for the weak of heart as it is certainly not a happy-joy-joy type of book. The ending leaves you feeling bereft through its heart wrenching details, but this makes for a compelling read and I recommend it for the main character's fortitude and strength. I look forward to future works by Cathy Marie Buchanan, so that I can again relive the intense drama that she writes.

The author Cathy Marie Buchanan will be adorning this blog with a guest post/author's note tomorrow, in which she speaks of the legendary rescuer William 'Red' Hill and shares some older photos of the Niagara Falls. I would love for you to stop by and enter the giveaway for this novel then!

If you cannot wait for the giveaway and absolutely must purchase this because I have written such an awesome review, then please visit:
Amazon, B&N, Powell's or an independent bookseller to purchase!

If you have written a review and would like for me to link you to this post, please leave a comment and I will do so.

Aug 20, 2009

Booking through Thursday ~ Recent BEST Read

BurtonReview Thursday, August 20, 2009

Booking Through Thursday is hosted by Deb
Deb asked: "What’s the best book you’ve read recently?"
The most recent one for me is The Day The Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan.

The emotional family drama that drove that book was wonderfully captivating, and the story of the Niagara that was intertwined within it was memorable. My review posts on the 31st, a guest post and a giveaway on September 1st.
What was your most RECENT Best Read?