The Falls

By Joyce Carol Oates

     When plain-featured Ariah Littrell, daughter of a Presbyterian minister, married Gilbert Erskine, a Presbyterian minister, she thought her life as a twenty-nine-year-old spinster was over. They seemed well suited for each other.

      However, when Gilbert Erskine was confronted in the honeymoon suite by his drunken bride, he discovered he was not suited for marriage. He had no desire toward the female body, and men repulsed him as well. He solved the problem in the only way he knew how; he threw himself into Horseshoe Falls. In less than twenty-four hours, Ariah was a bride and widow.

     While she searched for Gilbert's body, Ariah was shadowed by Dirk Burnaby, an attorney who lived in a suburb of Niagara Falls, Luna Park. He could not forget the Widow-Bride of The Falls. Though Dirk was a handsome man, he found Ariah more attractive than the showgirls from the casino. He pursued Ariah, and married her in July of 1950 after Gilbert had died in June of that year.

     Though their families had disowned them, they were deeply in love with each other. When their first child was born, there was a possibility the father was Gilbert Erskine, but Ariah didn't want to know. In fact, Ariah didn't want to know anything disturbing. Otherwise, she'd have known about Love Canal.

     The Falls is a gripping story of a difficult period in our history when mankind had to confront the damage he was doing to his own world. It would be a struggle between money and poverty, between the rich and powerful and the ones that worked for them to build their riches. It is also a love story between two people, Ariah and Dirk Burnaby, a story of sadness, misunderstanding and untapped grief. Whether you like this type of story or not, you will not be able to stop reading The Falls.