Jame Richards

This book was written in prose so it is tempting to read it quickly. Slow down, though to get the full effect of the writing. The story takes the point of view of various people who will eventually be affected by the flood. There is forbidden love, class struggle, a look into society of the day, and a fascinating explanation of how life changed during the flood. The cover is underwhelming, but the book is fantastic! Oh please, ignore the cover.

Celestia Whitcomb is a young woman from a wealthy family who spends summers at the hunting and fishing club in the mountains above Johnstown (it was this club that was responsible for the dam that broke, causing the flood). Celestia falls in love with Peter, a boy from town who works at the club for the summer. Of course, their secret romance could have dire consequences if they are discovered by Celestia's family. The author also shifts perspectives occasionally to focus on a few other show more individuals whose lives are affected by the flood.

It's obvious that the author has done her homework, and there's an author's note at the end, explaining where and how she deviated from the actual history. I have to admit that I am not a big fan of verse novels. This is about on par with other verse novels I've read -- a slightly more spare way of telling a story, enjoyable, but I think I would have liked it better fleshed out in prose. That's just me -- I know lots of people are really fond of the format. For those people, I think this would be a very good read. show less

The year is 1889. Celestia, youngest daughter of a businessman, falls in love with Peter, a hired hand from the valley who works at the rich folks’ club up by Lake Conemaugh, a dammed-up lake high in the mountains, despite the impropriety of their relationship. Her family’s disapproval sends Celestia into the valley to pursue a new life with her true love. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the valley, Maura, a teenage mother, cares for her children while waiting for her train conductor husband to show more come home, while Kate trains obsessively to be a nurse after a devastating loss.

Celestia, Peter, Maura, Kate, and others…they have little in common with one another, until the day heavy rains destroy the dam and send an unimaginably horrifying flood rushing through the valley. Houses are swept away, families torn apart, and their lives entwine and change in ways that none of them forsaw.

THREE RIVERS RISING, Jame Richards’ debut novel, is a moving work of historical fiction, its verse format making it all the more accessible to a wider audience. The story and character development feel a little forced, however, but in spite of these problems I still found it a good read, worthy of sharing.

I had never heard of the Johnstown flood before, but it was a great backdrop for a variety of characters’ stories, and it added a deeper layer of complexity and suspense to the historical fiction. Celestia and Peter’s improper romance, in particular, was well developed, and presents to readers a moving portrait of class divisions in the late nineteenth century. The historical aspects of the book are unique, but not all-encompassing: you could probably consider this “historical fiction lite.”

Jame Richards’ verses are easy on the eyes and mind. It is happily devoid of the stiltedness that sometimes occurs in historical fiction; instead, the lines are straightforward, always more for plot and characterization than for building the setting. The sense of mounting tension we get as the moment of the flood draws nearer is spectacular. Richards’ writing and her sense of pace at crucial moments drove me forward in my reading, unwilling to put the book down.

Unfortunately, I felt that the multiple points of view contributed to the lack of thorough character development and connection. Celestia and Peter’s stories were the most developed; Maura’s and Kate’s felt sadly rushed, incomplete, and force, due to the less amount of space they are given in the novel. Switching narrators contributed to the rising suspense at the novel’s climax, but did not help me fully understand and sympathize with any of them. Dedicating the book to exploring the nuances of Celestia and Peter’s relationship would’ve probably made this a more emotionally satisfying story for me.

Additionally, the ending of the book felt unnaturally neat, which jars with our sense of the flood’s destructive power. The “perfection” of the ending brought me uncomfortably close to rolling my eyes and lowering the age range of readers I’d recommend this book to.

Despite these issues, I still overall enjoyed THREE RIVERS RISING for its unique way of approaching historical fiction. The verse was lovely, and the actual section where the flood occurs—which is what’s most important—will tug at your heartstrings. THREE RIVERS RISING is an easy historical read that can be enjoyed by a wide range of readers, from the middle school history buff to the grandparent looking for a light read on a fascinating moment in time. show less

Set in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in the the late 1880s, Three Rivers Rising follows the stories of several people affected by the Johnstown Flood of 1889, when the South Fork Dam burst, killing more than two thousand people and destroying a number of Pennsylvanian towns. Celestia, the daughter of a wealthy Pittsburgh banker who vacations at the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, meets and falls in love with Peter, a working-class teen from Johnstown who works at the club. Kate is a nurse show more still recovering from her young husband's death, and Maura a young wife of a train conductor. Each person narrates his or her story through free-verse poems, and the poetry is an excellent medium through which to convey the rushing disaster of the flood and the strong emotions felt by the characters. A number of stories are told, but the primary focus is placed on Peter and Celestia, and their forbidden cross-class romance, which is nicely developed and well told, and excellently contrasted with Celestia's sister's ruinous affair. Suspense builds when they are separated during the flood, neither knowing if the other survived. Though the setting of the novel is the flood, the majority of the book takes place with the events building up to the flooding-- and not quite enough attention is placed on the flood or its aftermath; the book's resolution is too quick and too neat, and the causes of the flood are glossed over. The book does include a brief factual account of the flood, as well as a bibliography for further reading. show less