First published 2005
A librarian escapes her empty Boston existence for the thriving mountain city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where powerful men are reshaping the landscape. Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon have created an exclusive retreat beside an artificial lake, but their careless modifications to the dam above the city threaten disaster. The librarian finds herself drawn into the lives of those caught between ambition and catastrophe: the daughter of the lawyer who chartered the wealthy men's club, a principled Quaker steel mill owner fighting the dam's construction, and a determined young man exposing the greed that defines America's Gilded Age. As romance blooms against this volatile backdrop, the weakened dam holds back millions of tons of water above thousands of unsuspecting lives. When the structure finally fails in 1889, the resulting flood claims 2,200 victims and forever changes those who survive. Cambor weaves together personal desires and industrial recklessness to reveal how individual lives intersect with forces beyond their control.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Boston, Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Period: 1889
MP3 CD · Brilliance Audio
Content warnings: death, violence