The Gilded Cage

by Judy Alter

Chicago, from swampland to host of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition, as lived by two leading historical figures: tycoon and hotelier Potter Palmer and his activist wife Bertha Honoré Palmer who fought for women’s rights and help for the poor. A story of love, major historical events, class warfare, intrigue, a forbidden love interest, and murder. A history of Chicago’s colorful Gilded Age.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

318 pages, Paperback

Published April 18, 2016

About the author

Judy Alter was an American novelist and nonfiction writer whose work explored the history and literature of Texas and the American West, with a particular focus on women’s experiences in the nineteenth century. She authored numerous books for adults and young readers, including over fifty young adult nonfiction titles and a series of cozy mysteries, many set in Texas. Before turning to full-time writing, she worked as editor and later director of TCU Press. Alter earned degrees from the University of Chicago, Truman State University, and Texas Christian University. She received multiple literary honors, including the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement, and remained an influential voice in Western literature.

Reviews

[Boundless Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll be honest with you. I knew nothing about Chicago before reading this book. This book painted a colorful picture of a quickly developing city and the men and women who helped it to do so. Potter Palmer was a man with a dream when he stepped off the train in Chicago. He made a name for himself, married a wealthy bride, and continued to help build his wealth and Chicago as a city. This book shows his life and the lives of his trusted business associates as Chicago was built from the ground up. Through the Civil War and many disasters the city stands tall. This story is one to remember.

Honestly, when I first started this book I thought I wouldn't like it, but I grew to love it. It has so much history that I couldn't help but to fall in love. The characters are real and bright and really paint a picture of the upper and lower classes and how they lived. This book was a real treasure. It was written so well and kept me reading. It made me mad, sad, happy, shocked, and so many other things. It was really a great book. I loved the history, the story, and the characters. Honestly, I loved it all! I will be going and researching Chicago after this. I mean, how could I not?...Stormi

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[The Book Junkie Reads . . . · Rating 4 out of 5]

I call this factual fiction with the in-depth details that were used of the Chicago fires and the goings on in the city at that pivotal time. I learned new, interesting things that may have just slipped my notice but were captures again with this reading. I had to take notes on things that I wanted more information on. Cissy was strong in so many ways. There was turmoil, strife, mass immigration, poverty, society in general. There were glimpses of many different aspect of life in and around the Chicago area for the 18th century. This was early American history and the great American dream as it came to be for some in the city that became great Chicago.

[Judy Fleener · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It combines several of my favorite things: the city of Chicago, a strong woman, and the Columbian Exposition. The book paints a picture of poverty in the 18th century city as well as the lives enjoyed by the rich and famous. It tells of the devastation of the fire. It reminds me of the waves of immigrants that made the city great. It recalls the struggle between labor and management. It sent me to the library to read more about the history of Chicago.

[Carrie Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Gilded Cage by Judy Alter takes readers on a journey through historical Chicago, from 1852 to the World’s Fair at the end of the 1800s. It follows a collection of people and personalities from various walks of life, all of whom are inter-connected in some form or fashion. Not exactly a novel and not exactly nonfiction, it’s more of an easy-to-read biography of sorts with some literary license taken on occasion. Alter takes the history and weaves it into a loose story format that retains the feel of nonfiction in many ways but proves more engaging.

I was intrigued by The Gilded Cage as I grew up not too far from Chicago and to this day it remains one of my favorite cities. To see this side of it was both eye-opening and fascinating. For one thing, I never realized the role that Chicago played in the Civil War or how dingy and shabby it was in many ways before the Great Fire. It certainly progressed a long way in the years following that devastation. Given that I now live in Kentucky, I also enjoyed the connections to my adopted home state and the glimpses into its mood during the Civil War.

Bottom Line: The characters in The Gilded Cage will settle in your heart, and you will find yourself turning the pages to see what happens to them. Not only that, but the city of Chicago itself becomes a main character that looks considerably different than the Chicago we recognize today. I would say that, as a novel, The Gilded Cage is a bit disjointed and seems to have a difficult time deciding if it’s a story or a factual account. But if you consider it to be a storified biographical sketch of a city and its key players, it becomes a light and entertaining way to ingest history and meet historical figures with whom you may not have already been familiar.

(I received a copy of this book in exchange for only my honest review.)

[Carmen Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fictionalized Life of Bertha Honoré Palmer

I don't mind the fictionalized accounts of historical figures when the author makes it clear and states it clearly. It often can lead to looking for non fiction accounts of these historical events and characters. I found it interesting and made an interesting companion to the book by Renee Rosen about the 2nd Mrs Fields, What the Lady Wants. It also reminds me that it may be time to read Eric Larson's Devil in the White City again

[ELIZABETH SABINS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic and highly entertaining read

Excellent and intriguing story of mid to late 1800s Chicago. A fascinating story of the rich and poor, all of whom contributed to the growth and development of that great Midwestern city. This is my third book written by Alter and I really enjoy her style of writing.

[Story Circle Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Judy Alter's The Gilded Cage is a fascinating historical novel about the early days of Chicago. Potter Palmer grew up in a small Quaker village in upstate New York, and his work ethic made him a partner in a local mercantile store before he was twenty. He opened his own store in nearby Lockport, though most of his family and neighbors had never ventured outside the borders of Potters Hollow. Potter was a careful man; he studied his choices and made a life plan. In 1852, at age twenty-six, he disembarked the train in Chicago after a grueling two-day journey from New York City; the unrelenting oppressive smell of the stockyards nearly took his breath away. But Potter determined a bad smell would not stop him.

The author's strength is in her detailed research as well as her character development. Potter, age forty-five, married wealthy society Bertha Honore; he called her 'Cissy.' She was twenty-two. Given the difference in age and attitudes of Cissy and Potter, they had a remarkably compatible marriage and two sons. While Potter planned and built a mansion for his future family, they lived in a suite of Potter's Palmer House, the grandest hotel in Chicago.

Potter, one of the city's major robber barons, gave generously to causes he approved, yet they were seldom the same causes Cissy supported. He wrote checks while Cissy delivered food, clothing and medical supplies to the shanty neighborhoods, invited factory girls to her mansion for cooking lessons, and worked at the Jane Addams' settlement Hull House, actively supporting women's causes.

Another character whose life intertwines with the protagonists throughout the novel was Carter Harrison, a frequent mayor of Chicago.

Then there was Harry Collins, whose life was a case in point of how to make the wrong choices. His wife, Sheila, provided an inside look at the struggles of the destitute. Her husband always had money for alcohol even when his family was without food.

Judy Alter created some fictional situations for these historical characters as the novel spanned a time of great change in America and especially for Chicago: The Great Fire of 1871, the Haymarket Riots, the Columbian Exposition and the Civil War. The history of the city provided momentum to keep the story moving as the character's lives intertwined with fate and each other throughout the novel.

The Gilded Cage is one of those books that take you to another time and place, and the story and characters stay with you long after reading.

by Ann McCauley
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, but I found myself wishing the story had followed Cissy throughout her later life without Potter. I want to hear more about her other adventures and achievements.

I had read The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson some years ago and it told a different but equally fascinating story of the Chicago Exposition.

Bertha "Cissy" Palmer was a remarkable lady and this story tells only a part of her life. There is more to read in other books.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I am not usually one to pick up a book based on history-I am very glad I agreed to read and review this one when asked.

This novel will take the reader from Chicago's very beginning as a backwater, rather smelly town through to the Columbian Exposition held there in 1893. Although many of the people were real as was the timeline-the author has written a fascinating story around all these events. Rich vs poor--until Cissy Hamilton took matters into her own hands and although never a suffragette-worked steadfastly in the interests of women and poor women. She actually believed way back then in equal work should get equal pay. We are still trying for that today! That this woman defied the class rules of her station in life and in many cases her husband (who luckily doted on her and was by far the richest man in Chicago at the time) was nothing short of a miracle. Unlike other women of her social standing--she believed that the wealth should be used to help the poor especially in times of trouble. Cissy did not talk much about it until the Chicago Fire--but she certainly walked the walk.
The Gilded Cage

[Cindy Woods · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good historical read

This is definitely more of a history book than a historical romantic novel. The facts are told in a bland, srorytelling manner and a little bit if literary license is taken to spice it up a bit. In a way, it makes the factual items easier to follow.
Instead of looking at this book as a very bland, monotonous novel, I look at it as a very interesting history book of Chicago from its early beginnings up through the Columbia Exposition.
I would recommend to those who want a true story of Chicago that is spruced up a bit to keep the reader's interest.

[Nancy Heinrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strength and individuality

If you like historical fiction, this book is for you. Set in the mid to late 1800's in Chicago : with folks leaving the East coast to settle and developed the city. The novel gave an absorbing account of how society dealt with The Great Rebuilding after the Chicago Fire, the Haymarket Coast Riots and the World Columbian Expo.
The main character, Cissy Palmer, showed strength and individuality more than most women had during this period.

[Joni Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about Chicago. Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about the history of Chicago.