SUMMERS COUNTY W.Va. (Hinton News) – Former Summers County resident, Betsy Reeder, has released her fifth novel, “Beyond Buffalo,” the fourth set in West Virginia. While the first three “Madam’s Creek,” “Broomstraw Ridge,” and “Salt in Boiling Water,” focus primarily on nineteenth-century Summers County, this one is based on Logan County’s 1972 Buffalo Creek disaster.
By 1972, many residents of the sixteen coal camps along Buffalo Creek had become alarmed by three dams impounding coal slurry at the head of their valley. In particular, the newest and largest loomed as a hastily constructed heap of slag holding back more than a hundred million gallons of water.
The fears were well founded. On a February morning, four thousand people became homeless, over a thousand sustained injuries, and more than a hundred died.
“Beyond Buffalo” is a suspenseful account based on the historical events of the Buffalo Creek flood. It follows Ellie McCrae and her family as they face profound trauma and loss, followed by the challenge of rebuilding their shattered lives. It also traces the course of an epic lawsuit against what was then the largest coal company in the country.
The novel has received five-star praise from Donna Meredith, editor of Southern Literary Review: “Others have written about the Buffalo Creek disaster, but Reeder examines the long-term psychological impacts on survivors of this horrifying mining disaster in West Virginia. Reeder captures Ellie’s terror as she and her family climb a hill frantically trying to escape from a mountain of mud and sludgy water. Every horrifying moment they spend stranded without help on that hill builds dread and suspense…. This fast-paced novel is a reminder of the dangers of corporate greed and of the need for enforced regulations and inspections by unbiased outsiders. Most of all, it is a journey inside the human psyche, a journey of rebuilding life after unfathomable loss.”
“Beyond Buffalo” is available on Amazon as paperback, hardcover, and e-book.
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