In praise of bargain-bin titles: ‘The Day the Falls Stood Still’

You can’t judge a book by its price tag. As I keep discovering on my regular rounds of the bargain-book bins at local bookstores.

In a quaint and essentially futile quest to stop myself from buying more books (because, as anyone who’s ever seen my desk, or my car, or my house well knows, I don’t need them!), I try to limit myself to the bargain bins whenever I foolishly venture into a bookstore.

But such ventures can be money — and time — well spent.

A recent case in point: “The Day the Falls Stood Still,” an atmospheric and absorbing debut novel by Canadian author Cathy Marie Buchanan, published in August 2009.

The title “Falls” refer, of course, to Niagara Falls — the more scenic Canadian side — but this novel provides far more than a vivid travelogue, journeying back in time to the days before, during and after the Great War (better known these days as World War I).

Yet “The Day the Falls Stood Still” explores several issues that resonate very clearly today — not only international conflict but all-too-timely environmental and economic concerns.

Initially, these issues don't have much to do with our young heroine, Bess, a convent-educated teen whose comfortable life is about to get a lot less comfortable — and a lot more interesting — when her businessman father loses his job. In turn, Bess and her family lose not only their standard of living but their standing in Niagara Falls’ stratified social whirl as well.

Not that Bess much cares. After all, she’s already met the love of her life: dashing yet plain-spoken Tom Cole, grandson of a legendary outdoorsman, who’s inherited his ancestor’s uncanny knowledge of the Niagara River and sense of quiet heroism. (Grandpa Fergus Cole's first heroic rescue inspires the book’s title; Buchanan recounts Fergus', and Tom’s, exploits in a series of mock newspaper stories that add to the book’s atmospheric authenticity.)

As these two outwardly mismatched, inwardly attuned individuals face the future together, Buchanan moves them, and her book, beyond its historical setting, creating credible psychological complexities that resonate through the years.

I also appreciated Buchanan’s restraint as she maintained a somewhat detached perspective, refusing to surrender to the story’s potential for over-the-top melodrama.

As the author notes in an interesting postscript, Buchanan based Tom Cole on a real-life riverman — but it's doubtful he was any more compelling than the flesh-and-blood characters the author herself has created.