In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden: A Novel

This is a historical novel about the flood in Johnstown, Penn in 1889. Some of the characters are taken from history, some are invented. The author does a good job of maintaining a sense of foreboding.

The characters are all dealing with their relationship to the greater society, and the flood too was caused by the tension between the rich club members, who owned the dam, and the people who lived below it. The author investigates both the social and the natural forces, and does it quite poetically.

This wasn't quite as dramatic as I was expecting. But it's worth reading.

When I first started reading this book I will admit to being disappointed because for some reason I thought it was just about the flood and the causes of the flood. After a short while though, the author had drawn me in with this well written story about the families and lives of the people affected by this tragedy. Rich men, Carnegie and Mellon only concerned about their gentleman's club, ignoring warnings from engineers that the dam was very inadequate, showing once again the abuse of power and money. When the flood finally entered the book, it was even more of a shock because now I had connected to many of the characters. Cambor did a wonderful job highlighting the effects of this tragedy on all involved, while also updating the show more reader on other world events connected with World War II. show less

A beautifully told historical fiction set in 1889 in Johnstown, PA. This memorial day weekend will change the lives of all the town's inhabitants forever. Follow the author as she traces an intimate portrait of love and tragedy. Her evocative telling captures the reader. You will join with the mourners as numerous bright lives are snuffed out together.

This is a historical novel about the flood in Johnstown, Penn in 1889. Some of the characters are taken from history, some are invented. The author does a good job of maintaining a sense of foreboding.

The characters are all dealing with their relationship to the greater society, and the flood too was caused by the tension between the rich club members, who owned the dam, and the people who lived below it. The author investigates both the social and the natural forces, and does it quite poetically.

This wasn't quite as dramatic as I was expecting. But it's worth reading.

The novel deals with the Johnstown flood. It's in interesting historical setting and our book club spent some time discussing the class differences (and how / whether they still exist in today's America).

It is a love story of sorts, set in the time leading to the Johnstown flood of 1889. A privileged girl comes to love the son of the steel works foreman. But, of course, their relationship is doomed. Some insight into the historical figures of Carnegie, Mellon and Frick.

I did not like the epilogue.

This is historical fiction, a story that imagines the lives and loves of the people in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in the years leading up to the day of the disastrous flood that took 2,200 lives. The people in the story include many of the actual people whose lives shaped, or were shaped, by the events leading up to the flood. A few years ago, I read the non-fiction book "The Johnstown Flood" by David McCullough. I loved that book too. It made everything feel so real that you could imagine the roar of the water as the South Fork Dam broke. And the fear and terror as everything was swept away. I wish now that I had read "In Sunlight" right after I read McCullough's book. The two books really complement each other.

Cambor very meticulously draws the background of key players in "In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden." So meticulously, in fact, that I began to lose track of the large number of characters and, then, lose interest.