“What a wordsmith! What a work of depth and breadth! What a world newcomer Cathy Marie Buchanan brings to propulsively glittering and gorgeous life in The Day the Falls Stood Still. Few first novels exhibit the mastery, maturity and majesty of Buchanan’s riveting fictional debut, a heart-wrenching, soul-racking, spell-binding tale interwoven with guts, anguish and glory guaranteed to remain in readers’ minds long after they’ve crossed its devastating finish line.”
− The Globe and Mail
“[The Day the Falls Stood Still] stands on its own elegant prose and the vibrant voice of its narrator.”
− USA Today
“This assured Ontario Gothic story deserves to take its place beside the best novels of the First World War.”
− National Post
“Buchanan weaves Niagara Falls’ history and her storytelling together masterfully.”
− Elle
“An ambitious, sweeping love story…. Put on your late-summer To Do List for sure.”
“The writing here is subtle and luminous.”
− Buffalo News
“Buchanan combines storytelling with reportage of a legendary riverman creating a story as mesmerizing as staring at the river as it plunges over the falls.”
− Publishers Weekly
“I grew up in this area and I know every whirlpool that is described. Buchanan is right-on in her description and the lore.”
─ Catherine Gildiner, acclaimed author of the bestselling memoir Too Close to the Falls
“Historical fiction readers will appreciate the excellent period detail, especially the depiction of the era’s social mores, and the romance between Bess and Tom is also a high point.”
─ Library Journal
“It is a novel to savor.”
─ Historical Novel Society
“Buchanan’s prose is elegant.”
─ Kirkus Reviews