When The Waters Came

Title:  When the Waters Came

Author:  Candice Sue Patterson

Publication Information:  Barbour Fiction. 2024. 256 pages.

ISBN:  1636097588 / 978-1636097589

Rating:   ★★

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "Fog suspended from hemlock and spruce in a ghostly blanket that whispered along the peaks of decorated headstones, and the mourners gathered round."

Favorite Quote:  "I realized that the actions of man will frustrate me the rest of my life if I allow them to. I won't stop praying and doing my part to see a positive difference made, but I also won't let the outcome rule my life anymore."

When the Waters Came is the first in a series of six fictional accounts of American disasters - both natural and manmade that transformed the communities they impacted.

On Friday, May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam on the Little Conemaugh River 14 miles upstream of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, failed after days of strong rainstorms. The ensuing flood destroyed Johnstown, killing over 2,200 people. The damage, in today's, dollars would total billions of dollars. The loss of lives is immeasurable.

The dam was part of the privately owned, secret membership South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. The dam supported the club lake to provide sport and fishing for the club members. Most sources say that changes to the dam for club purposes likely led to the deterioration of the dam and its eventual failure. However, "what stuck with me the most and has never let go is that not one charge was ever brought against the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club nor any of its members. Despite proof of negligence, no one was ever held accountable."

This book tells the story of this flood through two main fictional characters - Pastor Montgomery Childs of Johnstown and Annamae Worthington, a nurse who comes after the flood as part of the Red Cross relief efforts led by Clara Barton. My issue with the book is that the story becomes much more about these characters than the flood and the town. The history becomes a background and not the story itself.

Given that the main character is a pastor, the telling of the story takes a decided religious bent, which is unexpected. Pastor Monty, as he is called, suffers a crisis of faith given the horror and destruction he witnesses. In addition, he has a back story which relates to the history of the dam and is slowly revealed through the book. As the author's note explains, the book creates a fictional relationship to bring in a historical figures and bring this plot line to a conclusion.

Annamae also has a back story and her own reasons for coming to Johnstown beyond her work with the Red Cross. The Red Cross aspect would be interesting but for the characterization of some of the historical figures.

Finally, a story purported to be about a disaster and its community impact ends up a romance between these two characters. That is completely unexpected based on my expectations of the book and, for me, completely unnecessary.

As always, I am glad for the history this historical fiction taught me. I was just not the reader for the fictional part of the story.

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