Trapped on the Wheel: Chicago's Columbian Exposition of 1893

by John Glavin

Alessandra is willing to risk everything to ride the largest bicycle wheel in the world—the original Ferris Wheel.

Lured by the temptations of the World’s Fair, she rebels against her Victorian father, whose life-long vision is for her to become his Lady of the Manor. However, Alessandra vows to resist. After her 18th birthday ball, she begins her painful odyssey to escape the trap awaiting most women—a dominating father, an arranged marriage, and society’s false promises.

Although set over a century ago, Trapped on the Wheel depicts similar battles Chicago faces today: scandal, financial depression, and racism challenged by the people’s belief in change and hope for a better life.

369 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

John Glavin is a lifelong Chicagoan who loves its history and its stories.

As a department chair for 25 years at Glenbrook North High School, he published textbooks on writing including one selling a total of 500,000 copies. After retiring he researched and collected over 100 books on the Columbian Exposition. He developed Trapped on the Wheel from 1994 to 2008 as a labor of love.

Currently, he is writing the sequel to Trapped on the Wheel about Alessandra and the Pullman Railroad Strike of 1894, entitled Striker!"

Reviews

[Florence Osmund]

This book is a wonderful historical read that takes place in 1890s Chicago during the World’s Fair six-month exhibition. Laced with a wealth of compelling history (I can't imagine how much research must have gone into this novel), it is a coming-of age-story about a strong-willed eighteen-year-old girl’s struggle with cultural biases, familial dysfunction, and life-changing family secrets. The book is well-written; the characters are notably fleshed out; and the story is interesting.