The
Falls
By
Joyce Carol Oates
When
plain-featured Ariah Littrell, daughter of a Presbyterian minister,
married Gilbert Erskine, a Presbyterian minister, she thought her
life as a twenty-nine-year-old spinster was over. They seemed well
suited for each other.
However, when Gilbert Erskine
was confronted in the honeymoon suite by his drunken bride, he discovered
he was not suited for marriage. He had no desire toward the female
body, and men repulsed him as well. He solved the problem in the
only way he knew how; he threw himself into Horseshoe Falls. In
less than twenty-four hours, Ariah was a bride and widow.
While she searched for Gilbert's body,
Ariah was shadowed by Dirk Burnaby, an attorney who lived in a suburb
of Niagara Falls, Luna Park. He could not forget the Widow-Bride
of The Falls. Though Dirk was a handsome man, he found Ariah more
attractive than the showgirls from the casino. He pursued Ariah,
and married her in July of 1950 after Gilbert had died in June of
that year.
Though their families had disowned
them, they were deeply in love with each other. When their first
child was born, there was a possibility the father was Gilbert Erskine,
but Ariah didn't want to know. In fact, Ariah didn't want to know
anything disturbing. Otherwise, she'd have known about Love Canal.
The Falls is a gripping story
of a difficult period in our history when mankind had to confront
the damage he was doing to his own world. It would be a struggle
between money and poverty, between the rich and powerful and the
ones that worked for them to build their riches. It is also a love
story between two people, Ariah and Dirk Burnaby, a story of sadness,
misunderstanding and untapped grief. Whether you like this type
of story or not, you will not be able to stop reading The Falls.
|
The
Book |
Ecco
/ HarperCollins |
September
1, 2004 |
Hardcover |
0-06-072228-2 |
Historical
Fiction |
More
at Amazon.com |
Excerpt
|
NOTE:
Contains explicit language, violence and sex |
The
Reviewer |
Jo Rogers |
Reviewed
2005 |
NOTE:
|
|