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Dark Hearts of Chicago
This dark and exciting historical novel marks the collaborative debut of two remarkable talents, the novelist William Horwood and historian Helen Rappaport.
When young, inexperienced but very ambitious female reporter Emily Strauss bluffs her way into newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer’s office, she comes away with a treacherous to find out what happened to Anna Zemeckis, one of many women who have disappeared during the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. With the support of a young man who is just venturing into the burgeoning trade of news photography, Emily soon finds herself in a race against time to save Anna’s life and to bring her story back to New York before Pulitzer’s tough deadline expires.
19th century Chicago is a place of dangerous contrasts. Most obviously there is all the glitz and razzmatazz of the Fair itself and the spectacular wealth and influence of a new middle-class elite. But Emily must also come face-to-face with the rival ethnic groups, the sinister underworld of pornography and prostitution, as well as the ruthless meatpacking giants of the Union Stock Yard who control the lives and destinies of so many of Chicago’s immigrant poor.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
When young, inexperienced but very ambitious female reporter Emily Strauss bluffs her way into newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer’s office, she comes away with a treacherous to find out what happened to Anna Zemeckis, one of many women who have disappeared during the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. With the support of a young man who is just venturing into the burgeoning trade of news photography, Emily soon finds herself in a race against time to save Anna’s life and to bring her story back to New York before Pulitzer’s tough deadline expires.
19th century Chicago is a place of dangerous contrasts. Most obviously there is all the glitz and razzmatazz of the Fair itself and the spectacular wealth and influence of a new middle-class elite. But Emily must also come face-to-face with the rival ethnic groups, the sinister underworld of pornography and prostitution, as well as the ruthless meatpacking giants of the Union Stock Yard who control the lives and destinies of so many of Chicago’s immigrant poor.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published July 17, 2007
1 person is currently reading
193 people want to read
About the author
William Horwood
43 books252 followersWilliam Horwood is an English novelist. His first novel, Duncton Wood, an allegorical tale about a community of moles, was published in 1980. It was followed by two sequels, forming The Duncton Chronicles, and also a second trilogy, The Book of Silence. William Horwood has also written two stand-alone novels intertwining the lives of humans and of eagles,
The Stonor Eagles and Callanish
, and The Wolves of Time duology. Skallagrigg, his 1987 novel about disability, love, and trust, was made into a BBC film in 1994. In addition, he has written a number of sequels to
The Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame.
In 2007, he collaborated with historian Helen Rappaport to produce Dark Hearts of Chicago, a historical mystery and thriller set in nineteenth-century Chicago. It was republished in 2008 as City of Dark Hearts with some significant revisions and cuts under the pen name James Conan.
In 2007, he collaborated with historian Helen Rappaport to produce Dark Hearts of Chicago, a historical mystery and thriller set in nineteenth-century Chicago. It was republished in 2008 as City of Dark Hearts with some significant revisions and cuts under the pen name James Conan.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 6, 2021
This is a LONG book, but it didn't feel like it. The short chapters really helped me move through the book quicker than I thought I would--plus, the plot has a decent pace that never feels like it's lagging. The mystery of the missing girl, Anna, intrigued me from the start, especially when I realized that she had forgotten some very important memories that were needed in order to find out how Anna had gotten into such a dangerous situation. I also thought that the aspiring journalist, Emily Strauss, was a good underdog that I could really get behind.
January 9, 2013
An impulse pick-up from the trolley at the library.
Quite a strange and at times, gruesome book; still scratching my head over this one.
Although it has got me interested in looking at more about Chicago's history.
Quite a strange and at times, gruesome book; still scratching my head over this one.
Although it has got me interested in looking at more about Chicago's history.
February 27, 2018
It took me a couple of months to finish reading this book. Not because I didn't want to sit up to the wee hours of the morning reading it, rather because I was travelling light, and it was too hefty for me to bring. Travels over, I couldn't wait to pick it up again! The intrepid Emily, trying to get a job in the men's world of newspaper reporting travels to Chicago during the World Fair to discover whether a missing young woman was dead or alive. From this premise, we're introduced to good guys, bad guys, the seamy underside of Chicago, and the heart of darkness. I enjoyed the characters, the darkness, and the inevitable, if not a bit predictable, outcome. Now I'm off to read about the Johnston flood that killed so many and ties into a storyline in the book.
It was a joy to read a 600 plus page book. I'm a fan of fat, well written books!m
It was a joy to read a 600 plus page book. I'm a fan of fat, well written books!m
September 2, 2018
I have a great interest in Chicago history, so when I saw this book I knew I had to read it. The description mentions the disappearance of women during the time of the World's Fair and I assumed it would tie H.H. Holmes into the story, but there's absolutely no mention of it at all. However, I still found the mixture of fictional plot and historical fact to be incredibly interesting. The ending drags a bit, but it wraps up nicely and provides a great tale for history buffs.
January 21, 2019
A fine reconstruction of the period. Obviously well researched but perhaps a little too long as a result. The ending is well done though. Sometimes it was a bit uneven. I put this down to it being a collaboration of two writers.
February 22, 2019
This book was great. I learned so much about the history of Chicago in the late 1800s—the Worlds Fair, Union Meet Packing, the mob, and the deplorable places called insane asylums. Altogether fascinating.
October 16, 2020
Drawn out but good ending
July 4, 2025
William Horwood, actual living genius, in my world. This was a shift from his usual, but reassuring to know that as far back as 1893, humans were intent on killing pretty much everything.
September 21, 2010
I found Dark Hearts of Chicago at a used book store. When I read the overview on the back of the book (a cub reporter is trying to dig into why so many young women have been disappearing during the 1893 World’s Fair), I thought, “This sounds a little like The Devil in the White City“. However, I was intrigued by the first few pages, plus it was cheap, so I decided to go for it. Turns out it wasn’t really like The Devil in the White City, in part because it wasn’t written as well, but also because despite the description, Dark Hearts didn’t really focus on the World’s Fair. It was more focused on the general attitude and culture of the city at the turn of the century.
Dark Hearts of Chicago tries to get at how crazy Chicago was at the beginning of the 20th century. The city was growing, in large part because of the flow of immigrants, massive industries, like meat packing, were changing the way the city operated, and the gap between the poor and the wealthy was extreme. This book touches on all these topics, as well as the idea of women getting into the work force, the development of the pornography industry in the U.S., and the public and medical view of mental illness. An ambitious book to say the least.
After finishing the book, I realized that it doesn’t quite do all of these topics justice. It’s a long book – over 600 pages – so the authors had the space, but it just wasn’t done that well. It’s not a bad book, it’s just not great. Part of my problem with the book is that is just didn’t feel true to the time period – I could tell that the authors were bringing and 21st century perspective and voice to a 19th century story. Two examples of this were:
1.The dialogue – It just didn’t ring true to the setting, which I found distracting. For example, the main female character, a reporter named Emily Strauss, addresses two men as “You guys”. I just don’t think women were saying that in the 1890s.
2.Emily’s role in exposing the pornography trade. I had a hard time believing that a woman in 1893 would ever be shown pornographic images, even if it was in the name of her work as a reporter. The male characters she was working with really only made a half-hearted attempt at keeping her from seeing pretty graphic images and she quickly got involved in trying to expose the powerful men who were driving the development of the burgeoning pornography industry without any real resistance. I just wasn’t buying it.
Maybe I’m generalizing the time period too much, but I found the authors difficulty in capturing the voice and culture of the time period made the whole book a little weak. That said, I finished it and found the story somewhat compelling. I’ve read a number of books (fiction and non-fiction) about Chicago and Dark Hearts brings up some aspects of the city that I hadn’t read about before, but there are other Chicago books I enjoyed more.
Dark Hearts of Chicago tries to get at how crazy Chicago was at the beginning of the 20th century. The city was growing, in large part because of the flow of immigrants, massive industries, like meat packing, were changing the way the city operated, and the gap between the poor and the wealthy was extreme. This book touches on all these topics, as well as the idea of women getting into the work force, the development of the pornography industry in the U.S., and the public and medical view of mental illness. An ambitious book to say the least.
After finishing the book, I realized that it doesn’t quite do all of these topics justice. It’s a long book – over 600 pages – so the authors had the space, but it just wasn’t done that well. It’s not a bad book, it’s just not great. Part of my problem with the book is that is just didn’t feel true to the time period – I could tell that the authors were bringing and 21st century perspective and voice to a 19th century story. Two examples of this were:
1.The dialogue – It just didn’t ring true to the setting, which I found distracting. For example, the main female character, a reporter named Emily Strauss, addresses two men as “You guys”. I just don’t think women were saying that in the 1890s.
2.Emily’s role in exposing the pornography trade. I had a hard time believing that a woman in 1893 would ever be shown pornographic images, even if it was in the name of her work as a reporter. The male characters she was working with really only made a half-hearted attempt at keeping her from seeing pretty graphic images and she quickly got involved in trying to expose the powerful men who were driving the development of the burgeoning pornography industry without any real resistance. I just wasn’t buying it.
Maybe I’m generalizing the time period too much, but I found the authors difficulty in capturing the voice and culture of the time period made the whole book a little weak. That said, I finished it and found the story somewhat compelling. I’ve read a number of books (fiction and non-fiction) about Chicago and Dark Hearts brings up some aspects of the city that I hadn’t read about before, but there are other Chicago books I enjoyed more.
July 30, 2013
Dark indeed. This 1893 version of Chicago is a thoroughly unpleasant place, violent, racist, sexist and corrupt, both politically and morally. Helen Rappaport and William Horwood have researched the city in depth and present it as one of the characters in an engrossing thriller. From the Cook County Insane Asylum to the giant Meat Packing companies, the threads of the story spread across the city, involving characters ranging from politicians to bell boys.
Heroine Emily Strauss, who wants to be a reporter of real news, not the women's page, tricks Joseph Pulitzer into letting her write a trial story, but she has to have it in the office in only nine days. She is sent to the World Fair in Chicago to find out why so many young women are vanishing there. The story snowballs, with many dramatic twists and turns, pulling all those disparate threads together to a sizzling and unexpected ending.
This well written and well researched thriller is one of a planned series following Emily's career. If the others are as good then they will be worth reading.
January 26, 2013
Although the storyline was quite predictable, the historic explanations of life in Chicago in the late 1800s was well illustrated for one to imagine actually being there. A great description of the industrial era (quite graphically described in parts about the meatworks), the hardships for single women, the sinister world of wealth, money and pornography. A long but easy read.
October 19, 2014
Interesting story, just not particularly well told. Took about 400 pages to become a page turner. Disappointing that with a writer as the main character that the story wasn't written in her voice. Potentially much more compelling.
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August 9, 2011Read this one in two days, I couldn't put it down!
August 12, 2011
Could not put this book down,great pace and a story that had me gripped.
October 14, 2014
A good bit of fun - but supreme 'pluckiness' of the heroine wears a little thin! Nicely evocative of late 1800's Chicago
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews