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Molasses mania sweeps Manchester MANCHESTER, MA — Sometimes the truth is harder to believe than fiction. A 50-foot-tall steel tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses really did collapse in 1919, sending a 15-foot tidal wave of the sugary goo sweeping through Boston’s North End at 35 miles an hour. More than 85 years later, molasses mania has taken hold in Manchester. Residents can’t get enough of the story. The library’s 91 copies — that’s right, 91 — of a nonfiction account of the deadly disaster are being checked out as fast as they are turned in, with some residents waiting in line for a copy of the book. Residents chose “Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919,” written by Weymouth resident and first-time author Stephen Puleo, for a community reading program with a goal of getting everyone in town to read the same book. The book is a historical account of the molasses tragedy and the trial that followed. In the trial, jurors had to decide whether Italian anarchists or the tank’s owner, United States Industrial Alcohol, were to blame for the disaster that killed 21 people and inured more than 100. In order to recount the tale, Puleo read 25,000 pages of testimony from the trial. Puleo said he had hoped people would find the book interesting, despite its factual nature. “I’d like to say that the history goes down easy,” Puleo said. “There’s the nice story, the nice drama of the flood itself and the larger concepts, like immigration, that weave in with the story.” But who would believe a whole town would read a 233-page nonfiction book about molasses? “It probably wasn’t a book I would have picked up on my own, but once I started it, I couldn’t put it down, it was just so interesting,” said Town Clerk Gretchen Wood. Pleasant Street resident Lois Kiefer agreed. “I remember I thought, ‘Ugh, I don’t think I want to read that,’ but once I got into it, it was really interesting and I couldn’t put it down,” she said. Even librarian Dorothy Sieradzki, who ordered the books, had her doubts in the beginning. “I was not prepared for how fast the books would fly off the shelf,” she said. “I thought I would really have to push them around town. I was getting kind of a lukewarm response, and then I got the books and I can’t keep them on the shelf.” Sieradzki ordered a stack of shopping baskets and was prepared to leave copies of the book all over town to entice people to read, but the stack of shopping baskets sits empty in a corner of the library while all 91 copies of the book are in circulation. Sieradzki signed the library up for a $7,500 grant for “On the Same Page,” a community reading program run by the state Board of Library Commissioners. The point of the program is to try to get everyone on the same page — or at least to get as many people in town as possible to read the same book. Manchester residents voted on which book the town should read based on a list of four drawn up by Sieradzki. The losers included “Empire Falls” by Richard Russo, “Sea Room” by Norman G. Gautreau and “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder. The book has made its way around Town Hall. Assistant town accountant Athena Thibodeau and her husband, Joseph, both read and loved it. The selectmen each have a copy. An 18-member group of sixth- through eighth-grade readers and their parents have taken on the book, and it is even making its way into surrounding communities. Peggy Finn of Beverly read it because people in her exercise class were talking about it. She handed the book on to the sister. Gloucester resident Ellen Lufkin read it because she works part time at Manchester Town Hall. Those who read the books are supposed to put an X on the inside cover before they pass it on so Sieradzki can track how many people read the books. Molasses mania doesn’t stop there. A molasses cookie recipe contest and a presentation by the author will round out the March activities. And on April 21, for the grand finale of the project, the library will offer readers a trip to Boston for a Historic Trolley Tour of the city. Even Puleo can’t believe it. “You have to pinch yourself,” he said. “I’ll tell you, I knew it was a good story — a story that had never been told, and when I would tell people they were always fascinated and couldn’t really get enough of it. I thought it would be well-received. But it has far exceeded my expectations.”
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