The Innkeeper's Wife: A Novel of Bertha Palmer and Gilded Age Chicago

“Hartsell delivers an immersive work of historical fiction that will keep the pages turning.” —Julie Cantrell, The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Feathered Bone In the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire, Bertha Honoré Palmer finds her world upended. The city is in ashes, fortunes are uncertain, and the future she once imagined has vanished. Her husband considers leaving Chicago, but Bertha insists it is their duty to stay and rebuild, whatever the cost. The Palmer House rises as a symbol of renewal, and within its glittering rooms, Bertha learns how influence is built and wielded, shaped through presence, persuasion, and restraint. By the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, she steps onto an international stage as president of the Board of Lady Managers, where competing interests collide, alliances fracture, and every advance carries consequence. From ashes to the White City, The Innkeeper’s Wife is the story of a woman navigating duty, marriage, and power while making history.