Audio Galleries

Three Rivers Rising: A Novel of the Johnstown Flood

Written by Jame Richards
Narrated by Joshua Swanson
Grades 7-11 • 3.41 hrs.
Unabridged • ©2010

"An ensemble cast performs, led by Eileen Stevens and Joshua Swanson as Celestia and Peter. The well-cast narrator shine in the descriptions of their characters’ individual experiences as they are swept up, some literally, in the disaster..." Library Journal

This debut novel in verse uses the 1889 Johnstown flood to explore class divisions and social mores in a moving portrait of four fictional families. Celestia's nouveau riche family would like her to marry well and advance the family's reputation with a pedigreed husband, but she has fallen in love with Peter, a hired hand at the resort hotel. In Johnstown proper lives Maura, a young woman with four small children and a loving husband. On a train to Johnston on the day of the flood is Kate, a widowed nurse who lost her beloved husband and stifles her own emotions by caring for others. The stories intersect in small but beautifully crafted ways. As in Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust (1997), Richards uses spare, clear language to both advance the story and create memorable characters. Even before the kiss / my heart is beating so hard / that it scarcely leaves room for air. Richards provides a time line and bibliography for readers intrigued by the flood. Those who loved the movie Titanic will be drawn to this intensely romantic and polished story. Grades 7-11.

©2010 Jame Richards (P)2009 Audible, Inc.