Dark Water Rising

Dark Water Rising (2006) is a historical novel set in Galveston, Texas, during the devastating 1900 Atlantic Hurricane that caused catastrophic damage and loss of life. The novel is a coming-of-age story that centers on Seth Braeden as his family moves to the thriving city just before the hurricane strikes. The novel was written by Marian Hale, whose previous works of historical fiction include The Truth About Sparrows, which follows a family surviving the Great Depression, and The Goodbye Season, which focuses on the deadly flu epidemic of 1918. The book won the 2007 Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year award. Hale was inspired to write the novel when her husband brought home an old book written by survivors of the storm—“a full account of the 1900 Galveston Storm, written right after it happened” (223). Hale reports that the accounts were so deeply personal and so gut-wrenching she felt as though she’d experienced the storm herself. The book included details that Hale put into the book; for example, a survivor of the storm told the story of saving the infant, Tom. Much of the dialogue in those scenes of the book comes from the account of a grown-up Katherine Vedder, who wrote about the night of the storm.