Baden, PA -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/13/2012 -- While millions of tourists peer over the edge of Niagara Falls’ two commanding waterfalls, they are simultaneously staring at a graveyard for yesteryear’s daredevils. Now, for the first time, the beauty and power of the Falls is told through a fictional tale of Post-War America and one woman’s dream for fame.

Whirlpool, by Eileen Hodgetts, is set in the jazz swinging scenes of 1923. With the memory of the First World War still shaping a changing society, women are bobbing their hair, shortening their skirts, and enthusiastically pursuing their emancipation.

Evangeline Murray is a young widow from Ohio. Before she had time to comprehend her undertaking, Murray is recruited by the Women’s Freedom Movement to represent the spirit of modern womanhood by going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

Eager to seek fame, fortune and relief from her late Husband’s gambling debts; Evangeline accepts the opportunity with high hopes of stardom. However, as with many of the fall’s daredevils, her thoughts rapidly change when she sees the power of the Niagara River and truly digests the magnitude of her challenge.

Requiring expertise, Evangeline and her all-female team attempt to enlist the help of Joshua McClaren, the most skilled of Canadian river men and a battle-scarred veteran of the late War. As a hard-nosed maverick with no patience for Women’s rights or the challenge ahead, his tune quickly changes upon his first sight of the charming and delicate Evangeline.

After many years of grief, the young widow has melted his heart and he is determined to protect her from herself.

What follows is an engaging tale of the character’s own demons, painful secrets and shocking revelations. Each new surprise unfolds with enrapturing delight, before the barrel is launched and the Niagara Rivers claim two more lives.

“I have always been fascinated with the falls, the stories behind those who have battled its boundless dangers and the romance of their personal back-stories” says Eileen Hodgetts, who recently announced the launch of Whirlpool.

She continues, “The book, while fiction, is based on a very real reality. Seven people have tried to ride over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Four have succeeded and three have died. While it is now illegal, Whirlpool attempts to shuttle readers back to the period where ‘going over’ was a frequent if tragic occurrence.”

The book is garnering rave reviews from around the world.

“Whirlpool has excellent character development and the characters are believable and become very real. Eileen Hodgetts knows how to make you empathize with the characters and their world becomes your world. The plot is intriguing and suspenseful and keeps you involved to the very end” says Dr. Eric Kaplan, reviewing the book for Amazon.com.

Another reader, Mo, was equally as impressed.

“I was captivated by the story from the beginning and was pleasantly surprised by the ending. What a wonderful book!”

Inspired by true stories of the Falls, Whirlpool is a romance, an adventure, and the closest that most people will ever come to taking the fateful plunge over the Falls.

The book is currently on sale through Amazon and can be purchased here.

About the Author
Eileen Enwright Hodgetts is a much traveled writer. Brought up in England and Wales, she has also lived and worked in South Africa and Uganda and now makes her home in Pittsburgh, PA. Her life experiences allow her to use exotic backgrounds for her novels and to understand how an adventure can begin with just one small incident. For ten years she directed a humanitarian mission in East Africa and is also involved in a Ugandan Coffee Farm. Much of her writing reveals not only her great fondness for the British Isles, but also her British sense of humor which still sees the funny side of most situations.

In addition to writing novels, Eileen Enwright Hodgetts is also an accomplished playwright with a number of national awards to her credit. Her novel, Whirlpool, began life as a stage musical playing at the Niagara Falls Convention Center in Niagara Falls, New York. In 1993 the Mayor of Niagara Falls, NY, proclaimed the summer of 1993 as Whirlpool Theater Days in honor of the production.

The author's award-winning courtroom drama Titanic to All Ships will be playing in theaters this year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. The drama, created under a Fellowship Grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a dramatic re-telling of the Senate Hearings into the tragedy. The play has won several national awards.