Changes

What I admire most about ''The Day the Falls Stood Still'' is its atmosphere. Cathy Marie Buchanan was brought up in the Canadian town of Niagara Falls, and there is a wealth of detail about the area which gives this first book of hers an immediate authenticity. Bess leaves Loretto Academy in 1915 to return home, her father sacked from his directorship of the local power company. Fascinating photographs show the Academy peopled with students of the era, and the imposing house, Glenview, which still exists today. Prominent landmarks such as the Lower Steel Arch Bridge become props – it is used to shadow Bess and Tom's first kiss and I wondered if it was the town's regular meeting place for lovers.

The novel commemorates the river that existed in the early twentieth century, its ecology, folklore and dangerous lure to residents and visitors alike. Downstream from the main Falls is a hazardous area of rapids and whirlpool, and the gorge and glen dominate the story. Using every sense, the author evokes the torrent roaring through them as a continual background to the town's doings. Real photographs of folk heroes like Blondin and Annie Taylor and fictional newspaper snippets add tremendously to the sense of atmosphere.