Book Talk: ‘Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury’ is a stormy tale of Great Lakes

We still talk about the Great Blizzard of 1978, a storm that has been called the worst in Ohio history. There are only a handful of people who could possibly remember the Great Lakes Storm of 1913, the setting for “Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury,” an admirable debut historical novel by Akron native Kinley Bryan.

The first sister is Agnes, who was widowed when her husband, who worked for the U.S. Life-Saving Service in Port Austin, Michigan, died during a Lake Huron rescue. Agnes lives with her passive-aggressive widowed mother, whose husband had been the life-saving station captain and who constantly nudges Agnes to remarry, preferably to the current station captain.

Sunny and her husband, Herb, serve on the freighter Titus Brown, making a round trip from Lorain to Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay, on Lake Superior). Herb is the steward and Sunny the second cook. Her baking is beloved by the crew but she’s tired of the work and wants to open a restaurant back home in Port Austin.

The weather has been remarkably pleasant for early November, but when storm warnings are raised, neither Agnes nor Sunny is concerned for sister Cordelia, safe in Cleveland after a surprise marriage to the captain of the Marguerite, bound for Duluth with a load of coal. They would be concerned if they had known that Cordelia had persuaded her new husband to let her join him on the Marguerite, “a romantic adventure,” she says.

The storm comes up fast. Sunny is cooking on the Titus Brown when she feels a lurch. The lake is still calm and the sky clear, so she believes they’ve hit a sand bar; a porter identifies it as a seiche, a dangerous standing wave. On the Marguerite, Cordelia hears the fog whistle and her husband Edmund learns from the lighthouse keeper that a storm is expected, with winds nearing 70 miles per hour.

The snow begins and the waves rise. The reader will feel the frigid water as it rushes into the pantry where Sunny is working, and the fearsome pitching of the freighters in the raging storms as the inches-thick ice accumulates on the decks. The title refers to another “three sisters,” an anomaly of three closely grouped waves much taller than surrounding waves. French explorers named Lake Huron “la mer douce,” or the sweetwater sea.

Bryan’s research includes the operation of the Soo Locks between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, which the Marguerite passes as the temperature drops, and the jargon and superstition of sailors and surfmen. The valor of the three sisters and the U.S. Life-Saving Service (they became the U.S. Coast Guard in 1915) will thrill the reader, and the destruction and loss of life is heartbreaking.

“Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury” (323 pages, softcover) costs $14.99 from online retailers. Kinley Bryan is an alumna of Kent State and John Carroll universities and lives in South Carolina.

‘College Roadmap’

“Information is currency,” says noted educator Donovan Livingston in his foreword to “College Roadmap: Essential Tips for First-Time College Students and Their Families” by former Twinsburg teacher Greta Oliver. If it’s true, this book is cash in the bank.

Oliver’s book begins before the college search with the question of whether the student wants or needs to go to college at all; some don’t. Then comes “finding the college that fits,” with the right size, environment and faculty-to-student ratio. Everything expected is included: filling out applications, researching financial aid, taking advantage of college resources, establishing good academic and social habits.

Some of the advice seems so obvious that it’s just the kind of thing everybody forgets to do, like taking notes during a campus tour or pay attention to how walkable the campus is — if there is no circulating bus or tram, it can be a long way between buildings in a snowstorm.

Students might not know that they can ask for a waiver on application fees in some cases. They should know that attending a college in another state can be drastically higher than one in-state.

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Thomas reminds readers that community colleges are valid choices and doesn’t have a problem using her children as examples: She excitedly took her daughter on a tour of her own undergraduate alma mater but was reconciled with the young woman’s decision to choose another school. When the time came for a son to go to college, the family made the mistake of not filling out certain forms and it cost them dearly.

Thomas, who earned degrees from Bowling Green and Cleveland State universities and a doctorate in higher education from Ohio University, includes a glossary and worksheets in the book, and more forms that can be downloaded with the purchase of the book.

“College Roadmap” (130 pages, softcover) costs $16.95 from online retailers. Greta Oliver owns an educational and career consulting business and lives in North Carolina.

Events

Cleveland Public Library: Tamara Winfrey-Harris, author of “Dear Black Girl” and “The Sisters are Alright,” joins the Morning Grind discussion series with conversations about Black life, in a Zoom event from 8 to 9:30 a.m. Monday. Register at cpl.org.

Akron-Summit County Public Library (Norton branch, 3930 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road): Dave Schwensen, author of “The Beatles in Cleveland: The Notorious 1964 & 1966 Concerts” talks about “The Beatles at Shea Stadium: The Story Behind Their Greatest Concert,” 6 to 7 p.m. Monday. Register at akronlibrary.org.

Medina County District Library: Kaia Anderson talks about her historical novel “Sisters in Arms,” about the real-life Six Triple Eight, the all-Black 6888th Central Postal Battalion of the Women’s Army Corps who processed and delivered mail during World War II, in a virtual event from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Register at medina.lib.oh.us.

Cuyahoga County Public Library: Former boxer and Black Panthers organizer Neil J. Smith discusses “On the Ropes: A Tale of the ’60s,” a novel about a boxer whose 1968 Olympic hopes are jeopardized by circumstance and then joins the Black Panthers, in a Zoom event from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Also from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Heather Webb (“Meet Me in Monaco”) talks about “The Next Ship Home: A Novel of Ellis Island,” about two young women, a translator and an Italian immigrant. From 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Kimberly Belle talks about “My Darling Husband,” a thriller about a family turned upside down by a home invader. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Cuyahoga County Public Library (Parma-Powers branch 6996 Powers Blvd.): Scott Longert talks about “Victory on Two Fronts: The Cleveland Indians and Baseball through the World War II Era,” 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Music Box Supper Club (2258 Professor Ave., Cleveland): The Cleveland Stories Dinner Parties series continues with Terry Pluto, author of “Vintage Browns, A Warm Look Back at the Cleveland Browns of the 1970s, ’80s, ’90s and more!” 7 p.m. Thursday. Dinner is $20; the lecture is free. Go to musicboxcle.com for information.

Hudson Library & Historical Society: Laura Thompson, whose “Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life” was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award in 2019, will talk about “Heiresses: The Lives of Million Dollar Babies,” about the lives of heiresses from the last five centuries, in a Zoom presentation at 1 p.m. Saturday. Register at hudsonlibrary.org.

Email information about books of local interest, and event notices at least two weeks in advance to BeaconBookTalk@gmail.com and bjnews@thebeaconjournal.com. Barbara McIntyre tweets at @BarbaraMcI.

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Book Talk: Akron native writes stormy tale of Great Lakes