thedailychannel.com — recommended books

City of Light
by Lauren Belfer

In her first novel, Lauren Belfer breathes life into an intriguing combination of time, place, and circumstance. City of Light is set in Buffalo in 1901, a time when the Niagara Falls generating stations were being built and coming online, electricity poised to render its sweeping changes in the home, the workplace, and the world..

The teller of this story is the headmistress of an exclusive girls' school in Buffalo. Intelligent and beautiful, as a single professional woman she stands somewhat outside of conventional Buffalo society, or so she believes. The subject of attentions from both men and women,. she's also a dedicated yet hardly strident feminist, working resolutely to improve the chances for young women.

This story illuminates a wide range of early-twentieth-century life and sensibility: industrial working conditions and the union movement, the press and available information, family life and the options available to a young girl who becomes pregnant, the character of the black community, how business and politics are intertwined, the importance of reputation and what went into it.

I enjoyed this book. It reminded me of my grandmother's stories of 'life in the olden days' although it's way beyond tales for children. Murder, kidnapping, rape, seduction, the worst imaginable government/business corruption, really. It's kind of a psychological adventure story that's well worth reading.

I'd be more specific about the plot, but I'm assuming you'll want to read this book, and there are more than a few surprises waiting for you.

So strap on that barrel, hop into the Niagara River, float down to amazon.com, and see what other people have to say about City of Light I can guarantee that you'll never think about Buffalo the same way again.

reviewed February 27, 2000