Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury by Kinley Bryan
1913. A powerful and dangerous storm descends on the Great Lakes, and three sisters find their lives transformed amid the chaos.
Galley cook Sunny Colvin, whose baking skills are exemplary, has her hands full feeding a freighter crew seven days a week, nine months a year. She also has a dream — to open a restaurant back home — but she knows she’ll never convince her husband, the steward, to leave the seafaring life he loves.
Back in their hometown, the second sister, Agnes Inby, mourns her husband, a serviceman who died in an accident she believes she could have prevented. Burdened with regret and longing for more than her job at the dry goods store, Agnes looks for comfort in a secret infatuation.
Two hundred miles away in Cleveland, the youngest sister, Cordelia Blythe, has pinned her hopes for adventure on marriage to a lake freighter captain. Finding herself alone and restless in a new town, she joins her mate on the season’s last trip up the lakes.
On November 8, 1913, a powerful storm descends on the Great Lakes, bringing hurricane-force winds, whiteout blizzard conditions, and mountainous waves that last for days. Amidst all of this, all three sisters are offered glimpses of the clarity they seek, if only they can dare to perceive it.