The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow (34 page)

O
nce again I must express gratitude to Stephen Reginald as the person who first pointed me to Prairie Avenue and walked the streets of the Prairie Avenue Historical District with me. A docent at the Glessner House Museum, he led me up staircases and through hallways that the average tourist at the museum does not get to traverse. Though we had permission, it felt furtive and sneaky and was terrific fun. He was a constant source of tidbits about life on Prairie Avenue that seasoned this story, and was a bulldog researcher of Chicago history. When you're in a room by yourself writing, it's a tremendous boost to have someone who always reads your emails because he celebrates the developing story even more than you do. I love having a partner with regular access to the setting I have gotten so attached to. Thanks, Steve.

Thank you, agent Rachelle Gardner, editor Vicki Crumpton, and the team at Revell that has embraced the Avenue of Dreams series in just the way authors hope for.

Thank you to my family, who have gotten used to the people stomping around in my head but who also keep me grounded in what matters.

A
lthough the main characters in the Avenue of Dreams series are fictional, the primary historical markers are true. The Ferris wheel on which both Charlotte's fears and dreams turn almost did not happen. Because what George Ferris proposed to build was unproven, organizers of the world's fair hesitated to give him a chance. Eventually, they did, and he surprised the world with an engineering feat that people these days take for granted. Charlotte's ride on the wheel changed her life.

The 1890s were restless years of urbanization. The forty-hour work week, paid time off, organized labor—these all rose from the era of this series. Questions of justice and distribution of wealth polarized political affiliations of both employers and a workforce swollen by immigration and movement to the cities. Archie Shepard, on the cusp of agitation and navigating carefully through tumultuous times, ran straight into the drama of Chicago's mayor being shot over labor sentiments taken to an extreme.

I love writing historical fiction because the stories themselves rise out of well-documented events and personalities. An urban setting like Chicago provides myriad historical trails to explore and opportunities to imagine how events in the newspapers of the time would have impacted the lives of ordinary people. I never get tired of it.

Olivia Newport
's novels twist through time to discover where faith and passions meet. Her husband and two twentysomething children provide welcome distraction from the people stomping through her head on thevir way into her books. She chases joy in stunning Colorado at the foot of the Rockies, where daylilies grow as tall as she is.

A
VENUE
OF
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REAMS

The Pursuit of Lucy Banning

The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow

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