books

Into the Fire
Young Adult Historical Fantasy set during the Great Chicago Fire


Fall of 1871, seventeen-year-old Grady takes advantage of the frequent fires around Chicago to "salvage" trinkets from burning buildings, selling them on the black market. During one salvage, when Grady barely escapes with his own life, he encounters a girl with hazel eyes who then disappears into thin air.


Suddenly, Grady is seeing apparitions all around him: a stranger hanging from a lamppost; a straw-haired boy rushing from a pawn shop; and again and again, he sees the girl with hazel eyes. Every salvage grows more dangerous as Grady’s visions baffle and disorient him. Around him, too, is the sprawl of Chicago: whose every street and bridge and alley and rising tower Grady can swiftly navigate even through a haze of smoke. But the grand city is drawing ever closer to a greater calamity that even Grady can’t salvage: a historic fire that descends on the whole city, raining fire, death, and destruction.