Author Siobhan Hartsell brings real-life Bertha Honore Palmer, a driving force in national women’s issues, to life in her historical fiction book The Innkeeper’s Wife.

Palmer rose to the top of late 1800’s Chicago society. No ordinary debutante, she bucked society’s norms to marry Potter Palmer, an older man, and the pair thrived as the century moved from Gilded Age toward Progressive Era.

Many underestimated Bertha’s indomitable spirit, and she and Potter faced their first challenge by rising from the ashes of the great fire of Chicago in 1871. The couple opted to stay in Chicago rather than start again elsewhere, rebuilding the Palmer House luxury hotel from the original architectural plans.

As the Chicago World’s Fair planning was underway, Bertha stepped up to lead the Lady Managers in the Women’s Pavilion project. Hartsell skillfully brings to life how Bertha led the charge to demand the rights entitled to women designing a building that would highlight women. No detail was too small in that project, and Bertha is even credited with helping create a simple hand-held dessert for the grand opening: the brownie.

Bertha’s brush with the historical figures of the day was inevitable, and the author is subtle in weaving those figures into the story as she namedrops powerful women, including suffragist Susan B. Anthony; Julia Grant, wife of Ulysses S. Grant, as well as Sophia Hayden, the first woman to graduate with an architecture degree from MIT.

Hartsell spared no effort in research and manages to present a captivating read with the right mix of fact and entertainment. She includes a wealth of books containing information on Bertha as well as on Chicago history, and the author also includes a list of prompts that are primed and ready for book clubs.

Fans of historical fiction will find this an absorbing peek into the life of a fascinating historical figure.

Also available in hardcover and ebook.