By Lauren Belfer
April 3, 2019
The story is set in the city of Buffalo, New York in 1901, as the Pan-American Exposition’s planning and construction is under way. The main character and narrator, Louisa Barrett, is headmistress of the Macaulay School for Girls, inspired by The Buffalo Seminary and is a very influential woman in a time of male predominance. The first major event in the book is the death of Karl Speyer, an engineering hero that designed the generators for the hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls. This causes a chain of events that leads Louisa to become involved in the struggle of the city’s hierarchy for control of Niagara.