Events

    Lunchtime Book Group

    Each month, Present Tense features a book and then hosts a lunchtime discussion group on the second Wednesday of the month. This month the meeting will be September 8 at noon in our Yates Gallery. Author Cathy Marie Buchanan will be joining our discussion via video teleconference this month!

    The Day the Falls Stood Still

    The Day the Falls Stood Still
    Written by Cathy Marie Buchanan



    1915. Niagara Falls. The dawn of the hydroelectric power era. Seventeen-year-old Bess Heath, who has led a sheltered existence as the younger daughter of the director of the Niagara Power Company, meets Tom Cole by chance on a trolley platform, and finds herself inexplicably drawn to him—against her family’s strong objections. Tom is not from their world. Rough-hewn and fearless, he lives off what the river provides and has an uncanny knack for reading 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 the paths of Bess and Tom become entwined, she must make a painful choice between what she wants and what is best for her family and her future.