This story revolves around community nurse Rose who, together with her wayward family, lives in a Pennsylvania steel mill town during the smog disaster that would eventually lead to the Clean Air Act. I sympathised with Rose, she's a tough nut, but she has reason for being so and she carries so much on her shoulders between work and family life; trying to balance both at a time when she could expect little support or even approval. Perhaps some of my sympathy stemmed from the fact that I disliked most of her family and felt her life with them to be almost more of a horror than the fog. For that reason, I didn’t enjoy the ending, I think Mrs Saltz got the better deal. But the book gives an interesting look at a time, place and historical event that I wasn’t previously aware of and it portrays the dynamics of a dysfunctional family quite well. I’m just not sure the author intended the reader to be left pondering if it was the family or the fog that was the more toxic element. ( )

An absolutely brilliant opening to an amazing saga. Based around a historical calamity - the killing smog, Rose is forced to navigate her own family's calamities. Rose is more than just her family's glue, she's also the community nurse, a position that makes her a vital part of the town as well. The smog isn't the only threat, and secrets are uncovered as rapidly as the smog begins to smother the town. You won't want to put this book down as you watch Rose and her family navigate life as inside and outside forces threaten to end everything as they know it. ( )

Rose, a community nurse, finds her carefully controlled life coming undone with her brother-in-law gambling the family savings, her children veering away from their college plans, her husband keeping secrets and her own past creeping into her present, all as an intense smoky fog settles in, endangering everyone.

The specific time and place of this story was such an asset, it sets this apart from so many other historical novels by fictionalizing an event that I’m not sure is all that widely known, or at least I certainly wasn’t aware of it, and I always like accidentally learning something while reading for pleasure. Plus the fog and soot make for such an atmospheric backdrop, perfectly suited to this family in crisis already choking on the secrets they’re keeping.

Speaking of those secrets, the story hinges on a lot of them, which I do sometimes find problematic in a book but I thought they were handled well here, doling out reveals at the right pace to have an impact, and maybe more importantly, I was never annoyed thinking a character should have figured something out before they did. I also appreciated that the end took its time in coming so we could see everyone, especially Rose adjust to living with their truths.

Rose will probably be the make or break factor for most who pick up this book, she isn’t likable all the time, she has a slew of flaws. I’m fond of heroines with hard shells and vulnerable insides, so right from her first interaction with the dog she claimed to dislike yet had a soft spot for, I was on board with her. I did have frustrations with her, some of the cruelty that came out of her mouth, particularly in regards to her daughter was cringeworthy, but the author does such a great job of helping you understand those moments, of establishing why Rose is the way she is, showing you all the labor, the guilt and the hurt piling up on her to the point of emotional and physical exhaustion. Some readers may find Rose to be too much, mostly I just found her wonderfully complicated, conflicted, and human. ( )

Kathleen Shoop hypnotises readers with her words bringing the story to life in such an encapturing way that it is so hard to put the book down.

In the mill town of Donora lives Rose and her dysfunctional family. Rose is a nurse who strives to ensure that her community is looked after, nursing is her life but with the worry that their funding is running out hanging over her head. After growing up in an orphanage Rose is adamant that her children will have the best that live can give, that is her mission, her focus in life. Although things don't go according to plan for Rose, her control to ensure they get away from Donora has become questioned and betrayed is how she now feels. What her family are not aware of is why Rose is the way she is, the deep hidden secrets and hurt she hides away.

The background of the family structure and the plight of the mill workers and families make you feel that you have become absorbed into the era and the story. She brings the characters into the hearts and minds of the reader, the nice ones and even the not so nice ones, Although I was caught out by the twist to the story.

People in Donora are proud of their industrial background, the mills are a way of life to them and they owe the mills for giving them jobs to be able to provide for their families. Living in the constant noise, smell, hardship and worry that their loved ones might be injured or worse at work is just the norm to them, let alone the never ending fog that surrounds the village.

I know the book was based around the real tragic events for the local Donora residents but even so you would still have been easily taken in by the story. The tragedy of the killing smog and the sad loss of lives and those who suffered illnesses was handled in a considerate way, it become clear that the author had put a lot of care and research into the story and I feel has done the Donora people proud.

Following on from such a traumatic event, is hard for everyone, especially Rose and my heart did go out to her. There were a lot of similarities between myself and Rose, especially a current one with my son and his education which made me smile as I had the same realisation as Rose did in the end.

A nice ending to a realistic and gritty tale and I am one seriously hooked fan and that's just after reading two of her books, I cannot wait to read the next, in fact I need it right now!! ( )

Donora, Pennsylvania lived by and for its steel mills. The Donora Fog of 1948 was caused by chemical effluents from its steel and zinc plant that were trapped low to the ground by a temperature inversion. Many people with respiratory problems died and literally thousands of the local residents became sick. This book focuses on a local public health nurse, Rose, whose professionalism is superb, but whose personal life is in shambles. Just as the fog makes the local world visibly impenetrable, all of her family have stories they hide from her and she has an early history that she has never revealed to her family, though it haunts her.

I thought the personal story and the historical events in Donora were mingled together very very well. Though the personal drama leaned heavily toward soap opera, the characters, especially Rose, were well drawn and had substance. ( )