Customer Reviews

The Great Chicago Fire, 1871

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really liked this book. Katina is a young girl orphaned by the Civil War. She flees a Southern orphanage disguised as a boy, and lives as one in Chicago until she falls in love with a handsome young reformed. They begin to dream of a life together until the raging 1871 fire seperates them. Will they be reuinited? Read to find out?

This is a love story set in Chicago in 1871, when the great fire burned most of the city. The two main characters, Katina and Russell, are wonderful. I couldn't put the book down because I wanted to keep on reading to see what would happen to them as they fixed up the building for the poor people and then got separated in the fire. Some of it was really sad, some was funny, and all of it was exciting. It was a wonderful book that I hope everyone reads!

I have read the Chicago Fire and the San Fransico Earthquake. I loved them both. the Chicago Fire is a wonderful book with a good plot and wonderful characters. The supense is great as the book travels from one character to another. It is a great book for any one who likes Historical Fiction. I loved the sensational ending! If you love histroy and romance you'll love this book.

What a book! Being a lover of romance, this book... "Hit the Spot" Comparing it to the other books like it in the "Series" that I've read, San Fransisco Earthquake, Pearl Harbor (the newest), and Hindenburg, it wasn't as suspensful, but I couldn't put it down. A definite happy ending!

I have read this story over and over again and still love it the same way as the first time. It is about a young girl who disguises herself as a boy to make it on her own when she meets the man she falls in love with. Of course this plot has been used over and over, but it is still a really fun read. The heroine is really convincing and a great role model. She changes her identity to keep her dreams alive, yet never lost sight of her dreams, and even created some new ones! This was a blazing story full of action, history, and romance, three things I love in a good book. I highly recommend this book and others of the series.

This was a wonderful book that was romantic and, in the second half, an exciting survival story. Katina and Russell are two young adults who fall in love in 1871 Chicago and must survive the terrible fire that sweeps through the city. Elizabeth Massie has done a wonderful job on this book.

This was an inspiring novel written for a special project to introduce young people to history. Others in the series include HINDENBERG, 1937, SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE, 1906, WASHINGTON AVALANCHE, 1910. This writer has out a series called DAUGHTERS OF LIBERTY, which looks interesting.

This one concerns a young 18-yr.old girl who ventured to Chicago after her family was killed in the Civil War in Georgia. She takes on a disguise of a boy and acts in a small theater, sort like the Black Box Theater here where Actors Co-op and Word Players learn their craft.

She meets a young minister on a street corner who persuades her to help him create a shelter for the destitute called the Homeplace. When he discovers that young William is indeed Ms. Katina, a fierce fire breaks out in Chicago and engulfs the city rapidly. The only thing to survive that fire was the Water Tower on the North Side and it is still standing. I have seen it. I have been to Chicago where my son attended University of Chicago from freshman to Ph.D (a total of ten years).

She had been rescued but jumps overboard there at the Randolph Street Bridge right downtown and swims five feet to shore where she finds her way back to the Homeplace where she knows that Russell Cosgrove will find her. This may have been made into a PBS movie, but I have not seen it. It is a cute romance and the fire is exciting, as history does indeed sometimes make sense.

Ms. Massie is not a historian, nor does she claim to be. She even admits that she has never been to Chicago, but suggests as reading background the books, THE GREAT FIRE by Jim Murphy and CHICAGO: GROWTH OF A METROPOLIS by H. M. Mayer and R. C. Wade.

This is a great series and has the purpose in the right place.

I thought that this book was a wonderful book. I had just picked it up to do a school book report and I really liked it. I think that it was one of those books that you just can't put it down. The book has a great expence and the romance it just enough. So please go out and get this book cause it is wonderful.

this book was not quite what i imagined it to be. the plot fits into your stereotypical historical romance: girl dresses up as guy, meets cute guy, falls in love with guy, and decides to reveal her 'true self' to him. guy decides he loves her, competes for her affection, assumes that girl likes the other guy better, "oh break, my heart" blah blah. in the end, the girl and guy get together after going through a historical disaster. i'll give this to ms. massie -- the event is described in great detail and is given a lot of attention, which is good if you like that kind of thing. the romance definitely needs more spark [for lack of a better word.]

This book was one of the best ones I've read this year, and I read a lot of books! I don't know why one reviewer didn't think it was very romantic. It really was, and I couldn't wait to keep reading to see what would happen between Russell and Katina especially with Adam there. I also couldn't wait to see what would happen with John Brandermill! (You'll have to read it to see what I mean!) If you want to know what it was like in Chicago during the fire in 1971, read this because it was very real. This is an exciting and romantic book that should get five stars for sure.