I chose to read Summer of Gold and Water because I enjoy books with characters that are completely different yet find so much in common when they get to know each other. Sarah goes to work for Eloise Danvers as their maid. Soon their families are becoming friends and mixing socially. I was pleasantly surprised to find this story includes the historic Johnstown flood which is only miles from where I grew up. The rivers and small towns are all familiar to me. Kathleen does a wonderful job of describing the small valley town and the devastation of the dam collapse. A lovely story with a great set of characters. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was a good story with the main characters well portrayed. Everything revolves around two families from Pittsburgh, one working for the other but treated as friends. Both husbands, Walter and Wesley, and wives, Eloise and Sarah get on extremely well as do their daughters, Sheila and Shirley and sons, Tom and Tyson. Eloise plans for the two families to stay at the new Southfork Fishing and Hunting Club situated in a beautiful location by the lake. They visit on an annual basis and one year they go and events occur which cause everyone to have to pull together. I did struggle with the likelihood of so many similarities in the two families and otherwise would have given 4*.

Living in the UK the subject of our corrosive class system is deeply rooted in our collective unconsciousness and is also portrayed throughout our literature. But sometimes the American class system can be somewhat overlooked despite the efforts of their great novelists, Henry James’ The Bostonians being a classic example. The issue of class and how it impacted on late 19th century American society is intricately explored in this beautifully insightful novel by Kathleen Danielczyk. The story begins in 1875 when Sarah Green is hired as a maid to the Danverses a rich Philadelphia family. The Danverses despite their wealth have an altruistic and somewhat unconventional attitude to their employees and Sarah is treated as a friend despite being an employee. This somewhat unusual relationship is tested when the Greens accompany the Danverses during the summer to an exclusive country club as members not servants with the resultant unease and discomfit that Sarah feels not to mention down right hostility that she encounters. Although the families two daughters grow up as almost sisters it is made quite clear that each would marry within their social class and not outside.

As the story unfolds we see how ultimately futile and divisive such differences between people are as all need to unite against the effects of a catastrophic event. The writing is succinct and the characters are finely drawn and we see the dilemmas that Sarah must wrestle with along her personal journey. I really liked this book and although something of a slow burner I was certainly captivated by this story which still has resonance in today's world.

This book looked interesting, but I could not get invested in the plot or characters. I picked it up a few times and would get bored and put it back down. I did finish it, but it took awhile. It just might not be the right book for me.

I give this novel three stars. The characters were too perfect and obvious they were constructed to assist in telling the story. Recommend to genre fans.