Introducing a new series of 6 exciting novels featuring historic American disasters that transformed landscapes and multiple lives. Whether by nature or by man, these disasters changed history and were a day to be remembered. Pastor Montgomery Childs has tended his flock in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, for two years. While his pews are full every Sunday, he most desires to see a reckoning between God and the kings of industry who recreate on Lake Conemaugh. The pleasure grounds, flowing alcohol, and business dealings of the ...
Read More
Introducing a new series of 6 exciting novels featuring historic American disasters that transformed landscapes and multiple lives. Whether by nature or by man, these disasters changed history and were a day to be remembered. Pastor Montgomery Childs has tended his flock in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, for two years. While his pews are full every Sunday, he most desires to see a reckoning between God and the kings of industry who recreate on Lake Conemaugh. The pleasure grounds, flowing alcohol, and business dealings of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club taunts Monty as he works to heal the wounds inflicted from his own privileged childhood among Pittsburgh society. Like Noah, Monty prays against the evil surrounding him, but he never expects God to send a flood.
Read Less
Add this copy of When the Waters Came (Volume 1) (a Day to Remember) to cart. $15.00, new condition, Sold by Powell's Books Chicago rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Chicago, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2024 by Oasis Audio.
I read the second book in Barbour Publishing's A Day to Remember series, and was so touched by it that I had to go back and read the first book in the series, When the Waters Came. Like the second book, When the Waters Came had me searching online for the details of the disaster, this one a flood that struck Johnstown, Pennsylvania on May 31, 1889. The story includes several historical characters including Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross and Doctor Hamilton, Surgeon General of the United States along with Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Carnegie, members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Many blamed the club and its members for the collapse of its dam that caused the flood. The two central fictional characters are Annamae Worthington, A Red Cross nurse, and Pastor Monty Childs. The themes of struggling with why God allows such devastation, the harm in holding grudges and seeking vengeance, and forgiveness of those deemed responsible are key to this disaster story as well as to current disasters and the daily misfortunes of life.
I highly recommend With the Waters Came, and am grateful to have received a complimentary copy from Barbour Publishing via NetGalley without obligation. This is a well-researched novel with authentic sounding dialogue, and writing that evokes vivid mental images.
J. Augustine
Feb 13, 2024
Heartbreaking and inspiring...
The Johnstown Flood is not a new historical event for me. Not only did I read about it in a children's biography of Clara Barton but I also did some encyclopedia reading on it after reading Catherine Marshall's book Julie which she closely based on the events surrounding the infamous Pennsylvania flood. When The Waters Came, however, is all about the devastating flood and its heartrending aftermath. And, I think, that Candice Sue Patterson did it justice without being horrifically graphic.
But, what really caught my attention about this first book in the A Day To Remember series was how she portrayed the hero of the story as he grapples with the shock and horror of everything he has seen and he feels like he has nothing left to give his congregation as his own faith has been battered almost into oblivion. I found this to be one of the most realistic reactions that I've read in a novel like this. The heroine's reaction to specific revelations in the story was also quite understandable as is her struggle with willingness to start the process of forgiveness.
I was quite impressed with When The Waters Came. I learned quite a bit about the flood itself, I really appreciated Candice Sue Patterson's Author Note at the end of the book with its further details, it's immediate aftermath, and the resiliency of the townspeople of Johnstown. I found the story to be gritty but inspiring and I am greatly looking forward to wherever the author of the second A Day To Remember novel will take us...
(I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are entirely my own.)