10 Quintessential Books Set In Chicago

A fantastical love story about a man who unintentionally leaps from decade to decade and his artist wife, this novel keeps one foot on the ground of modern-day Chicago with references to places like the Newberry Library, Oak Street Beach, Ann Sather Restaurant and the Aragon Ballroom. (First came the great book, then came the just OK Rachel McAdams movie.)

A kid from a rough West Side neighborhood grows up during the Great Depression and falls into schemes, affairs, scandals and fiascos galore. Read it if you love a ripping yarn.

The craziest thing about this bestselling story of a murderer who preyed on visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair? It really happened.

Chicago and the Roman-Catholic Church don’t get off easy in this three-part tale that pits a young Irish-American from Washington Park against the capitalist and spiritual evils of the Great Depression.

OK, so we weren’t all that thrilled with the movie. But the young adult science fiction novels that inspired it are full of edge-of-your seat action in a scary, post-apocalyptic version of Chicago.

Sinclair worked undercover in Chicago’s meatpacking plants to gather research for this game-changing novel, which exposed (and subsequently helped regulate) the exploitation of immigrants and terrible working conditions in the industry.

Set partially in 1890s Chicago, this groundbreaking graphic novel is another story anchored in the 1893 World’s Fair. The beautiful, architecturally rich drawings set off an admittedly depressing tale of a lonely, middle-aged man who dreams of himself as something more.

Even baseball couldn’t escape the Chicago Way when, in 1919, eight White Sox players conspired with gamblers to fix the World Series. This classic book digs into the story in fascinating detail.

If you haven’t seen it, read it. Hansberry’s critically acclaimed play about a Washington Park family struggling to rise out of poverty is based on a discriminatory housing lawsuit the playwright’s own family went through in 1940.

The Gone Girl author and hometown literary hero’s first novel was only partially set in Chicago, but it’s such a chilling and unforgettable story, we’ll claim it as a Midwestern triumph.