“Uh-oh. Sounds like trouble.”
“Not trouble, exactly.” Sylvie lifted her teacup, savoring the orange-and-cloves scent. “How would you describe the girls, Kristof?”
The newspaper crinkled as he folded down the corner and looked at her. “Like apples and cherries.”
A grin bloomed on her face. “Oh, stop.”
“Blueberries and bananas. Watermelon and rhubarb? Apricots and strawberries. Say, are you saving any of that jam for me, Beth?”
Beth threw up her hands in mock despair. “Apples and oranges! I get it!”
Sylvie’s full-throated laughter filled the kitchen.
“You’re both ridiculous.” But a hint of a smile softened Beth’s angular face. “I’m leaving.”
Kristof rose when she did, and helped her into her coat. “It’s a cold one tonight,” he told her. “Shall I hail you a cab?”
“I’ll hail it myself.”
He insisted on walking her out and waiting with her until she’d secured her ride home. When he returned, he came up behind Sylvie, who stood at the sink, washing dishes. His lips pressed warmth to the nape of her neck, and then he turned her around to face him, eyes alight.
“What’s going on?” She dried her hands on a towel, then reached for a jar of lemon hand cream.
Kristof took it from her and began massaging the cream into her skin. “Guess who won the chair.”
She frowned. Then gasped. “You’re kidding.”
“I’m serious.”
“Gregor?”
He nodded, and she read the wonder in the lines framing his smile. “The auditions are completely anonymous. All the candidates played behind a screen.”
“But could you tell by the music that it was your brother?”
“Something in his audition did make me hope it was him. But where he would have taken outrageous liberties with a piece a few years ago, he played with a restrained and polished musicality. It was like the piece evolved, but in line with the composer’s intention. So I assumed it couldn’t be him, after all.”
“But it was.” She squeezed his hands.
“It is. He’s starting at the bottom of the section, and the position is probationary for a full year, but he’s back, Sylvie. My brother is back.”
Her husband’s palpable relief touched a familiar chord. “That’s wonderful. I’m so glad. What did he tell you?” They hadn’t seen or heard from him in more than two years.
“Not much, except that he took the long way home, and that he’d tell me more later. He apologized, though, for his past behaviors and mistakes. And then added that he couldn’t guarantee he’d be perfect from now on.”
“Ah, perfection,” Sylvie said, understanding this lifelong struggle in Kristof’s family. She untied his necktie and pulled it free of his collar, then unfastened the top button. There. Better.
“Right. I told him I didn’t expect perfection. I only want his best. The best for him, the best from him. Which, now that I hear myself say it, is still a pretty high standard. His best would be phenomenal.” His lips curved in a rueful grin. “He asked me why I wasn’t conductor of the orchestra yet.”
“The maestro isn’t old enough to retire,” Sylvie said, perhaps a little defensively on her husband’s behalf. Kristof adored conducting and could have taken that position at a different orchestra, but he and Sylvie weren’t willing to leave Chicago. “And Thomas has been letting you stand in for him quite a bit these last few seasons.” Kristof was on track to replace him, but the time had not yet come. “Was Gregor disappointed to hear you’d found a new roommate?”
Kristof laughed. “He was surprised. He thought music had always been enough for me. I told him it had been until I met you. And nothing was the same after that.”
“It was better,” Sylvie teased.
“In every way. You, Mrs. Bartok, are the heroine of my story.” Gold flecks glinted in his deep brown eyes as he gathered her close and kissed her with a tenderness that took her breath away.
She laid a hand on his chest and felt the beat beneath her palm. “And you, my dear husband, are the conductor of my heart.”
She could feel his smile and the scruff of his jaw as he kissed her again and then conducted her toward the bedroom, right past the novels she’d thought she’d been dying to read.
Books, she had learned, would wait.
Author’s Note
I hope you’ve enjoyed spending time at Chicago’s World’s Fair of 1893 as much as I have. I only had room to share with you a small fraction of what I learned in my research, so if you’re hungry for more, I encourage you to dive into further study on your own. There are plenty of websites and books to choose from, including one of the 1893 guidebooks mentioned in this novel, Chicago by Day and Night: The Pleasure Seeker’s Guide to the Paris of America.
The main characters of this story are fictional, but as ever, they interacted with real historical events and settings. The descriptions of the Midway and of the Fair buildings, exhibits, and restaurants are as accurate as I could make them without bogging you down with dimensions and details. Beyond that, the following aspects of the novel are also true to history: the recession of 1893, the protests outside City Hall, the Exposition Orchestra and its broken contract with the Exposition Company, Hull House and its Readers Club and Hull House Players, the plight for women’s suffrage and the evolving image of the New Woman, the Pacific Garden Mission and the Cheyenne neighborhood of the Levee district, and Chicago Day and its record-smashing crowd of 751,026 people. Over the six-month course of the Fair, 27 million visitors attended. The White City was so magical, it served as the inspiration for L. Frank Baum’s Emerald City in his novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Another fun fact: Wellesley College English professor Katharine Lee Bates’s visit to the Fair inspired her to write the line “thine alabaster cities gleam” in the patriotic anthem “America the Beautiful.”
Historical figures who appeared in or were referenced in Shadows of the White City include Maestro Theodore Thomas, founding director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and musical director for the Columbian Exposition; Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who was working on the Biltmore Estate landscaping in North Carolina at the same time he worked on the Fair’s; Antonín Dvořák, composer and guest conductor of the Exposition Orchestra; Frederick Douglass; Helen Keller, the thirteen-year-old who met the inventor of the braille typewriter; Harry Houdini; Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr, founders of Hull House; Sophia Hayden, who designed the Woman’s Building when she was in her early twenties; Kate Marsden, British missionary to leper colonies in Siberia; Josephine Cochran, inventor of the first automatic dishwasher; Susan B. Anthony; Buffalo Bill Cody; George Francis Train, a.k.a. Citizen Train; Sioux Chief Rain-in-the-Face; Mary Cassatt; Dora Wheeler Keither, painter of the mural in the library of the Woman’s Building; Carrie Watson, famed brothel madam, and all the other brothel owners mentioned; evangelist D. L. Moody; Claude Monet; and Bertha Palmer, whom readers met in Veiled in Smoke. Bertha was much more than just hotelier Potter Palmer’s wife. She served as president of the Fair’s Board of Lady Managers and is credited with introducing Chicago to French Impressionism by bringing paintings back from France and hanging them in the Palmer House hotel and her own home. She eventually amassed one of the largest collections of Impressionist art outside of France. Visit the Art Institute of Chicago to see several of them.
The name of this series of novels, THE WINDY CITY SAGA, comes from Chicago’s nickname as the Windy City. The origins of this moniker aren’t entirely clear, but most agree it refers to the boastful “hot air” claims made by politicians and city boosters, particularly while competing with other cities to host the 1893 World’s Fair.
Chicago remains a fascinating city to visit for so many reasons. If you have a chance, consider including any of the following places on your itinerary, all of which have connections to the 1893 World’s Fair and Shadows of the White City:
The Auditorium Build
ing. Take the historic building tour of this place if you can. This was the original home for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The CSO later moved to its current home, Orchestra Hall, which was designed by Daniel Burnham, chief architect of the 1893 World’s Fair.
The Rookery, 209 South La Salle Street. Daniel Burnham and his business partner John Root completed this office building in 1888. As chief architect for the Fair, Burnham met with the nation’s top builders and drafted blueprints for the Fair in his eleventh-floor office.
The Art Institute of Chicago. The Columbian Exposition Company funded one-third of the construction cost in exchange for using it during the Fair. Its function was that of an auxiliary building that housed assemblies, lectures, and conferences. After the Fair closed, it was converted to its long-term use of housing the Art Institute’s collection.
The Museum of Science and Industry. This was the only permanent building of the Fair, built to house the Palace of Fine Arts. After the Fair, the building became the Field Museum until 1921, when the Field moved to its current location.
The Field Museum. Named for Marshall Field for his generous donation to the venture, it was originally founded as a permanent memorial to the World’s Columbian Exposition and held fifty thousand objects from the Fair, many of which can still be seen today (ask at the information desk for details).
Jackson Park. At 6401 S. Stony Island Avenue, you’ll find a replica of the Statue of the Republic (much smaller than the original) that towered over the Grand Basin. It was designed by sculptor Daniel Chester French, who also designed the figure of Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial. You’ll also find in Jackson Park the Wooded Island, which includes a Japanese garden that started with the Phoenix Temple built there for the World’s Fair, and the burr oak tree mentioned in Chapter Five of Shadows of the White City, which has a spread of nine hundred feet.
Midway Plaisance. You’ll have to use your imagination here, but the grassy median called Midway Plaisance on the University of Chicago campus runs through what was once the center of the Midway.
Macy’s at 111 North State Street. Before this was Macy’s, it was Marshall Field’s Department Store. This location was built after 1893, but visit anyway. On one of the upper floors, you can dine in the Walnut Room or the Narcissus Tea Room. The same floor showcases historic photos, artifacts, and clothing that was once displayed in Marshall Field’s windows.
Palmer House, 17 East Monroe Street. This location wasn’t built yet during the 1893 World’s Fair, but it is still worth your time. Bertha Palmer asked the cook at the Palmer House restaurant to invent a new chocolate dessert in honor of the World’s Fair—and voilà, the brownie was born! So make sure you order Bertha Palmer’s original brownie at the Palmer House restaurant.
Acknowledgments
A novel is never the product of just one person working alone. I owe a debt of thanks to the following people:
To my editors, Dave Long and Jessica Barnes, for investing in this story and series, and for sticking with me even though this is the second book I turned in without an ending (in its first-draft form). Thanks for your patience, graciousness, and all-around brilliance. You’re a joy to work with.
To copy editor Elisa Tally, and to Noelle Chew, Amy Lokkesmoe, Brooke Vikla, Serena Hanson, and all the marketing, publicity, and author support staff at Bethany House who have a hand in helping the novels reach readers.
To my agent, Tim Beals of Credo Communications, Inc., for his faithful support of my work.
To Kevin Doerksen, owner of Wild Onion Walks in Chicago, for another personalized tour of the city to aid me in my research of this time period.
To Michael A. Ramirez and the staff at Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, for an insightful tour and for helping me secure further research materials afterward.
To the staff at the Chicago Historical Society and the Newberry Library, for accommodating all my in-person research requests.
To the Auditorium Building staff, for the insightful historic building tour of your beautiful theatre.
To Susie Finkbeiner, my personal cheerleader and very dear friend. I’m so glad I get to do this writing and publishing journey alongside you.
To Mindelynn Young Godbout, for research assistance and general enthusiasm.
To my husband, Rob, and children, Elsa and Ethan, for their evolved understanding and support (including the custom map of the Fair Rob designed for the front of this novel), and to Elsa in particular for being my partner for my research trip to Chicago in February 2020. That was so fun. Let’s do it again. Only next time, not at the start of a global pandemic. Maybe also when it’s warmer.
To God, whose love is so great that we get to be called His children.
Dear reader, thank you for coming with me on yet another journey. The World’s Fair was spectacular, but if you only remember one thing from this story of found family, I hope it’s this: If you’re a believer, God lavishes His love on you and calls you His child. You cannot earn or perform your way into His love. You cannot lose His love by stumbling or making mistakes. He has grafted you into His family. You belong.
Discussion Questions
Echoes of the Great Fire of 1871 can be found throughout the story, even though it took place twenty-two years before the World’s Fair. What significant event in your life still influences you today?
Chapter Two ends with the line, “Kristof wouldn’t give up on family.” Do you think Kristof’s decisions regarding Gregor at the end of the story were the equivalent of giving up on him? Why or why not?
Jozefa and Sylvie each wanted Rose to be part of their families. In what ways were the two women similar? How were they different?
Beth comes across as abrasive at times, but Sylvie remains friends with her. Have you had a friendship that was difficult to maintain? If so, did you continue to invest in it or decide to move on? What factored into that decision?
Kristof and Sylvie each had relationships with their fathers that profoundly shaped who they were. How has your relationship with either of your parents affected you, even as an adult?
At one point in the story, Kristof tells Sylvie that we are all more dependent on God than we may want to admit. Would you agree? Why or why not? Does this encourage or discourage you?
During her search for Rose, Sylvie confesses that while she doesn’t doubt God’s ability, it’s difficult for her to trust His timing. Can you relate to this? When has God’s timing confused, surprised, or delighted you?
In Chapter Twenty-Five, Sylvie defends the way she cares for people against Kristof’s accusation that she is managing them. He says, “From here, it looks like fear.” Do you agree that when a person tries to control a situation or another person, it’s rooted in fear? If so, fear of what?
Kristof struggles with perfectionism, largely born out of his relationship with his father. Karl tells him in Chapter Twenty-Nine, “I hope you have since learned you can stop striving to earn a place you’ve already been given. You’re already a beloved child of God. You can’t perform your way into or out of His family.” In what areas do you struggle with feeling like you need to perform? What do you think would lessen that pressure for you?
Throughout the story, Sylvie works to find a balance between holding on and letting go of Rose. In your own life, when have you been challenged either to hold on (to a dream, hope, goal, or person) or to let go? How did you manage to do it?
Jocelyn Green inspires faith and courage as the award-winning and best-selling author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books, including The Mark of the King, Wedded to War, and The 5 Love Languages Military Edition, which she coauthored with best-selling author Dr. Gary Chapman. Her books have garnered starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly, and have been honored with the Christy Award, the gold medal from the Military Writers Society of America, and the Golden Scroll Award from the Advanced Writers & Speakers Association. She graduated from Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, and lives with her husband, Rob, and the
ir two children in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She loves tea, pie, hydrangeas, Yo-Yo Ma, the color red, The Great British Baking Show, and reading on her patio. Visit her online at www.jocelyngreen.com.
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Table of Contents
Cover
Endorsements
Half Title Page
Books by Jocelyn Green
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Epigraph
World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago, 1893
Prologue
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Discussion Questions
About the Author
Back Ads
Back Cover
List of Pages
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2
3
4
5
6
7
9
11
13
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16
Shadows of the White City Page 37