Wade in the Water - Tapa dura

The 'Johnstown Flood' of 1889 survives as a dimly recalled phrase, but memory of the actual scope of the catastrophe has faded with time. In 'Wade in the Water', Michael Oates brings the drama and tragedy of the flood back with immediate, wrenching impact. Told through the eyes of memorable characters whose personal struggles are instantly erased by the immensity of the disaster, Oates conveys the terror of that horrible moment with meticulous historical accuracy. --John M. Adams Historian, Author of The Millionaire and the Mummies

Michael Oates revisits a tragic moment in American history with his novel 'Wade In The Water', a touching coming of age tale plunging the reader into the swirling waters of a devastating flood that destroyed the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1889 and took the lives over 2,000 men, women, and children. Oates brings its memory back with a gripping story that hooks you from the very start and flows on with identifiable characters and expressive narration, almost lyrical at times, exploring the choices people make as they survive or succumb to tragedy. Through vivid descriptions and well-developed characters with uniquely connected lives, Oates weaves for us a masterful story filled with harmony and conflict that twists and turns just as unpredictably as the raging floodwater intent on destroying it all. --Debra Holland: New York Times best selling author of The Montana Sky Series

Michael Oates revisits a tragic moment in American history with his novel 'Wade In The Water', a touching coming of age tale plunging the reader into the swirling waters of a devastating flood that destroyed the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1889 and took the lives over 2,000 men, women, and children. Oates brings its memory back with a gripping story that hooks you from the very start and flows on with identifiable characters and expressive narration, almost lyrical at times, exploring the choices people make as they survive or succumb to tragedy. Through vivid descriptions and well-developed characters with uniquely connected lives, Oates weaves for us a masterful story filled with harmony and conflict that twists and turns just as unpredictably as the raging floodwater intent on destroying it all. --Debra Holland: New York Times best selling author of The Montana Sky Series

Michael Oates revisits a tragic moment in American history with his novel 'Wade In The Water', a touching coming of age tale plunging the reader into the swirling waters of a devastating flood that destroyed the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1889 and took the lives over 2,000 men, women, and children. Oates brings its memory back with a gripping story that hooks you from the very start and flows on with identifiable characters and expressive narration, almost lyrical at times, exploring the choices people make as they survive or succumb to tragedy. Through vivid descriptions and well-developed characters with uniquely connected lives, Oates weaves for us a masterful story filled with harmony and conflict that twists and turns just as unpredictably as the raging floodwater intent on destroying it all. --Debra Holland: New York Times best selling author of The Montana Sky Series

It is spring in the year 1889, and Americans are enjoying the spoils of an industrial revolution, but in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the wheels of industry are brought to a grinding halt when the River Fork dam bursts. Bennett Marsh, a nineteen-year-old kitchen-hand, wants nothing more than to leave his home town of River Fork and attend the Julliard School of Music in New York. Bennett's father, Percival, a steel-mill worker lured by the glamour of high society, is trapped in a dead-end job, and struggles to find his place as parent and provider. John Parke, the resident engineer at the River Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, questions the integrity of the dam while his gadabout wife and upper crust club members wine and dine around him in ignorant bliss. When a storm out of Kansas inundates the valley with torrential rain, Parke's greatest fear comes true. Twenty million tons of water spill into the Allegheny Valley, devastating the lives of the 30,000 people living below it. When the dam breaks, Bennett and Percival must count on each other to survive the flood, realizing the bond between them and the strength they take from each other, but it may have come too late.