Sister Carrie, A novel by Lauren Fairbanks. [Normal, IL:] Dalkey Archive Press, [1993.] 208p.

A young Florida woman moves to Chicago and enters the world of professional advertising, where she earns her successes using a variety of talents. Characters and plot similar to Theodore Dreiser's classic turn-of-the-century novel are presented quite differently from Fairbanks' 1990s perspective.

Booklist, 1/1/1994, p. 806. Kirkus, 10/1/1993, p. 1219. Library Journal, 12/1993, p. 173. Publishers Weekly, 9/27/1993, p. 42. Washington Post Book World, 3/6/1994, p. 8.

The Death of Nora Ryan, [by] James T. Farrell. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1978. 402p.

January 1, 1946, Nora Ryan--lifelong resident of Chicago, devout Catholic, mother of six--suffers a massive stroke. Immediately her family gathers to share her last moments, but Nora clings tenaciously to life. As time drags and Nora continues to live, tension builds among the family members and manifests itself through bickering, rivalry, conflicts, pettiness, and inane humor. In this, his last novel focusing on Eddie Ryan, Farrell manages through his naturalistic style to impress upon the reader all the sadness, the expectancy, the dread, and the extreme boredom of the deathwatch, and the sense of anti-climax of the death and wake.

Book Review Digest, 1978, p. 415.

Diamond in the Rough, [by] Patrick Finley. Chicago: Bari Press, [1986.] 229p.

A tough kid from Chicago's South Side learns reality on the streets and discipline in the army.

The Good Sisters, [by] Kathleen Whalen FitzGerald. Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc., [1981.] 251p.

Based on the author's own experiences as a nun, The Good Sisters describes convent life in the 1950s, often in intimate detail. Sister Kevin Mary, nineteen years old and fresh from the Noviate, is assigned to a teaching order in Chicago for her first year as a Religious. Cast among a group of seasoned sisters, Kevin Mary is quick to note the scent of Shalimar when in the presence of her Superior, the exclusive friendship between Sister Maximillian and Sister Jean Martin, and Sister Julia Mary's dependency on alcohol. These and other traits, combined with the problems of her first year of teaching, her own feelings for a young priest, and the terminal illness of one of the other sisters force Kevin Mary to question her life in order to draw a compromise between ideals and reality.

Kirkus, 8/1/1981, p. 953. Publishers Weekly, 8/14/1981, p. 50.

Divine Days; A Novel by Leon Forrest. [Chicago: Another Chicago Press, 1992.] 1135p.

The definitive black American novel looks at one week in the life of bartender and playwright Joubert Jones as he seeks the spirit of his former friend Sugar-Grove for inspiration. What he captures is the essence of black America as represented in the lives of Chicago South Side blacks in the 1960s.

Booklist, 7/1992, p. 1917. Chicago Tribune Books, 8/2/1992, p. 3.

Genevieve and Alexander, [by] Marjorie Franco. New York: Atheneum, 1982. 242p.

A story of love and family life, Genevieve and Alexander demonstrates the delicate but enduring bonds that make up a marriage, and the threat to those bonds when one of the partners attempts to change. In this case it is Genevieve. In a fit of self-pity she resolves to reorganize her life in order to be more self-serving. The culmination of this resolve is the writing of a book that she has planned for several years, but never found time to start. Of course, the writing takes her away from family, but the book itself also becomes an issue in the marriage. That this issue is resolved in a beautifully poignant way is a tribute to the marriage bonds, but also to the characters and to the writer. The setting is Chicago and the North Shore suburbs during the 1960s and 1970s.

Booklist, 6/1/1982, p. 1299. Kirkus, 4/11/1982, p. 434. Library Journal, 5/15/1982, p. 1010. Publishers Weekly, 4/23/1982, p. 86.

On Dearborn Street, [by] Miles Franklin, with an introduction by Roy Duncan. St. Lucia, London [and] New York: University of Queensland Press, [1981.] 219p.

A formerly unpublished novel by the author of My Brilliant Career, On Dearborn Street relates in detail the courtship of Sybyl Penelo, a self-employed and self-avowed feminist working as a technical writer in Chicago around 1914. Courted by two suitors, Sybyl finds ample opportunity to promote her ideology; however, the outbreak of World War I, the death of one suitor in an automobile racing accident, and her growing friendship with Pattie Caverley, an emancipated lady who made her own marriage and her ideology complement rather than contradict each other, cause Sybyl to reevaluate her life and her future and eventually consent to marriage. During the course of the novel Sybyl flirts and plays one suitor against the other in a manner which makes her protestations of independence and disinterest in marriage seem insincere. On Dearborn Street is best characterized as a frustrating story of conflicting action and ideology written in an archaic British style, despite its modern theme and Chicago setting.

Library Journal, 2/1/1983, p. 220. Publishers Weekly, 11/22/1982, p. 41.

Chicago Girls, a novel by Edith Freund. New York: Poseidon Press, [1985.] 427p.

Chicago, New York, and an island off the coast of the Carolinas provide the backdrop for this novel of women's issues in the 1890s. Gertrude Jahn from Chicago's Maxwell Street and Margaret Marsh of Prairie Avenue are worlds apart socially, despite the proximity of their origins. Each rebels against the life that is forced upon her by society, but in different ways. Gertrude runs away from the squalor of her behind-the-stockyards home in search of a better life for herself, and becomes the mistress of a New York insurance executive. Margaret uses her wealth and family position to alter her lot and to influence the position of women in general by working through the established social order. Each is successful to a degree, but each finds herself still victimized by social influences which she cannot change. Freund has created a graphic view of Chicago during the 1890s, contrasting the poverty of the stockyards with the opulence of Prairie Avenue duriing a period in which the city is in the international limelight, preparing for the Worlds Columbian Exposition. Although the story of Gertrude and Margaret may strain credulity, the author has a writing style that will sustain interest, and an understanding of the issues and the times which puts the struggles of the two young women into a proper perspective.

Booklist, 3/15/1985, p. 1029. Kirkus, 1/15/1985, p. 51. N. Y. Tiimes Book Review, 3/17/1985, p. 26. Publishers Weekly, 1/25/1985, p. 84. Washington Post Book World, 4/7/1985, p. 11.

Serious Trouble, [by] Paul Friedman. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, [1986.] 155p.

Four short stories analyze various responses to death--one's own, the death of a father, and the death of an unknown culture being expored by archaeologists. Although not always identifyable, all are set in or associated with central Illinois in some way.

CONTENTS: An Unexpected Death.--Blackburn.--A Period of Grace.--The Family.

Booklist, 7/1986, p. 1584. Kirkus, 6/1/1986, p. 808. N. Y. Times Book Review, 10/19/1986, p. 30. Publishers Weekly, 6/1/1986, p. 57. Studies in Short Fiction, Spring/1987, p. 175.

Our Fathers' Shadows, [by] Jack Fuller. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., [1987.] 224p.

State Attorney Frank Nolan's wife wants children. However, his father is dying of an hereditary disease that he will likely pass on to his children. As Nolan sorts out his feeling about his life and his future, he is confronted with a case involving the brutal beating death of a little girl found in a Chicago alley. Nolan refuses to accept the police report that would close the case, and keeps working on it until the murderer is apprehended. In addition to telling a good mystery story, Fuller probes his protagonist's motives in a thought provoking novel of modern day Chicago.