581

At the turn of the last century the thriving city of Buffalo, New York, is poised for glory as the power station at nearby Niagara Falls prepares to deliver electricity to the nation. Within its patriarchal society, Louisa Barrettm the progressive, unattached headmistress of a girls' school, enjoys an unusually influential position. Only she knows how it is constantly threatened by a secret from her past, and now, drawn unexpectedly into a warm alliance with Tom Sinclai - a pre-eminent figure in the violent battle between industrialists and conservationists over Niagara's waters - she finds herself locked in a power struggle both public and personal.

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