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BeFore (and aFTer) THe Flood Harrisburg natives may find a kinship in " e Signal Flame." bY ALeX brubAKer F or Harrisburg residents of a certain age, Tropical Storm Agnes holds a singular place in the city's history of natural disasters. In June 1972, the storm devastated the region, resulting in 122 deaths along the East Coast and more than $12.5 billion in damage. e Susquehanna River crested at 32.57 feet on June 24—15 feet above flood stage. For some, those memories and the devastating effects of Agnes still seem fresh 45 years later. Most everyone has a story to tell—where they were, who they were with—and that includes National Book Award finalist Andrew Krivak. Krivak's new novel, "e Signal Flame," may not take place in Harrisburg, but its northern Pennsylvania locale will certainly strike a chord with those who hold such vivid memories of a certain place in a certain time. "e Signal Flame" begins during Easter 1972 and chronicles the day-to-day life of Bo Konar and his mother, Hannah, as they struggle to pick up the pieces of their life after Bo's grandfather, the family patriarch, Josef Vinich—a Slovak-born immigrant and the protagonist of Krivak 's debut novel, "e Sojourn"— passes away. If that's not enough, Bo's brother, Sam, is missing in action after his second tour in Vietnam, and Sam's fiancé, Hannah, is pregnant with his child. Bo is left as the sole owner of the Endless Roughing Mill in a small town just north of Wilkes-Barre, and it's here, in this vividly textured region that Krivak brings to life with grace and beauty—the woods, the mountains, the small- town feel—that Bo must make sense of his grief and pain. As Bo internalizes and processes the shifting circumstances of his life, Tropical Storm Agnes bears down on Pennsylvania with force. As Agnes curls in along the East Coast, Krivak describes the storm's onslaught with spare and foreboding prose: "In the late spring of 1972, low pressure was stationary over most of the Northeast, and Pennsylvania, from the border with New York 's southern tier to the Mason- Dixon line, saw more rain in three weeks than it had since the flood before the war…On the twenty-third, the rains came hard and never let up, and the creeks and rivers of northeastern Pennsylvania's towns and cities (the waters already held at bay with stacked sandbags and whispered prayers) rose to a height that the work of those hands could no longer hold." Here, tragedy strikes again as Hannah, pregnant with the missing soldier's child, goes into labor on the night of the flood. Bo, listening to the emergency radio, is thrust into the middle of the action on the night of Agnes's worst rains, hoping to save his missing brother's fiancé and her unborn child. While this scene represents the fulcrum of the novel's dramatic elements, "e Signal Flame" is less about these big-life moments and more about the space in-between those pivotal life-changing moments—finding meaning and purpose in the banality of everyday life, the daily struggle of coping with grief and loss and uncertainty. If Agnes represents tragedy, "e Signal Flame" is about picking up the pieces after the tragedy. It's here, in the dirt and grime and small-town idiosyncrasies of northern Pennsylvania, that "e Signal Flame" comes alive. For anyone who's travelled to northern Pennsylvania, or even the nearby mountains and rural towns of central Pennsylvania, Krivak's characters and setting will resonate as authentic. Krivak's prose, like the setting, is a pure reflection of the region, the form serving the story, through and through. In a blurb for the book, novelist Brad Kessler writes that, "e book itself feels like an outgrowth of the soil in in which it is steeped." And while some questions do remain unanswered, the novel digs its heels into the nature of these questions, offering hope, forgiveness and a subtle pathos. In "e Signal Flame," Andrew Krivak has written a moving ode to the Pennsylvania landscape and its history—one that Pennsylvania natives will be sure to recognize. Alex Brubaker is assistant manager and coordinator of literary programs at Midtown Scholar Bookstore, 1302 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg. Visit www.midtownscholar.com. Storm StorieS Tropical Storm Agnes was one of the most significant events in Harrisburg history, a disaster that the city, in some ways, is still struggling to overcome. To mark the 45th anniversary of those terrible days in 1972, Midtown Scholar Bookstore is hosting a commemorative weekend full of talks, tours and tales. Friday, June 23 Opening reception & book discussion with novelist Andrew Krivak. Free and open to the public. 7 p.m. Saturday, June 24 Outdoor book sale, N. 3rd & Verbeke streets. 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. "Shipoke & the Flood of 1972." Walking tour with Historic Harrisburg's David Morrison and Jeb Stuart. Starts at Comfort Inn Riverfront. $15 ($10 HHA members, $5 students). 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. "Telling the Story" with author Erik Fasick ("Tropical Storm Agnes in Greater Harrisburg"), digital preservation of old photographs with Messiah College's Center for Public Humanities and live oral history interviews for Penn State's Center for Pennsylvania Culture Studies. At the Midtown Scholar Bookstore, free and open to the public. 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 25 Outdoor book sale, N. 3rd and Verbeke streets. 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. monday, June 26 "e Flood of 1972 & Its Aftermath," slide presentation at Historic Harrisburg Resource Center, 1230 N. 3rd St. Free and open to the public. 6 p.m. Midtown Scholar Bookstore is located at 1302 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg. For a full schedule of events, visit www.midtownscholar.com.

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