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Book Summary and Reviews of After the Falls by Catherine Gildiner

After the Falls by Catherine Gildiner

After the Falls

Coming of Age in the Sixties

by Catherine Gildiner

  • Published:
  • Oct 2010, 368 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

The vivid and touching sequel to the bestselling memoir Too Close to the Falls. It's 1960 and twelve-year-old Cathy McClure has just been thrown out of Catholic school for - among other transgressions - filling the holy water fount with vodka. In the hopes of giving Cathy a fresh start away from their small town, the McClures leave behind Niagara Falls and the family pharmacy to start over in suburban Buffalo. But life in a subdivision and a school filled with "pubescent cheddar" holds little appeal for a girl who began working at four and smoking at nine.

As the quaint world of 1950s America recedes into history, Cathy dives headfirst into the 1960s. Along the way, she adopts many personas with gusto - vandal, HoJo hostess, FBI suspect, civil rights demonstrator - but when tragedy strikes at home, Cathy must take on her most challenging role yet.

As candid and compelling as Mary Karr's The Liars' Club and Jeanette Walls's The Glass Castle, After the Falls is an irresistible account of one girl's coming-of-age during a tumultuous era and the moving tale of a rebellious spirit learning what it means to be a daughter.

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This information about After the Falls was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Catherine Gildiner Author Biography

Catherine Gildiner has been in private practice in clinical psychology for nearly twenty years. She writes a monthly advice column for Chatelaine, a popular Canadian magazine, and contributes regularly to countless other Canadian newspapers and magazines. She lives in Toronto with her husband and three sons.

Author Interview
Link to Catherine Gildiner's Website

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