Although 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.