Howard Books
Featuring: Billy Jack Tate; Hunter Scott
464 pages ISBN: 1451692412 EAN: 9781451692419 Kindle: B00DPM7YPO Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List
The Chicago World's Fair in 1893 is opening with many women
attending the International Convention of Woman's
Progress. A guest speaker is Dr. Billy Jack Tate, who is
being detained from entering as the hall is full and none
of the guards believe her to be a doctor and guest
speaker. Intent on giving her speech, Billy tries to shimmy
through a cellar window and is caught by a Texas Ranger,
Hunter Scott, who is temporarily assigned there. Seeing
only her backside and enticing pantalets-trousers, she
finally convinces him to allow her entry.
Having little luck gaining patients with her shingle
hung, Billy is thrilled when the President of the Board of
Lady Managers offers her a position as physician at the
Woman's Building for the duration of the fair. With funds
depleting quickly, this is a prayer answered. Things
progress normally until a guard is brought in with severe
stomach cramping and is none other than Ranger Scott. This
is the beginning of their friendship which escalates when
he brings a newborn infant to her ,which he found deserted
at the fair. Taking the infant to Hull House, operated by
women to help with the devastated West Chicago side in
caring for infants and helping destitute families, was just
the beginning of their involvement. Hunter and Billy were
appalled at the horrendous conditions of the West side and
the jails into which young children were also thrown, and
worked hard to build the first playground to keep children
off the streets and out of the saloons. Falling deeply in
love, the biggest obstacle to overcome is Hunter insisting
she be a stay at home mother while Billy insists he will be
a stay at home father instead. Tragedy strikes a 9 year
old boy they have befriended where life in prison is
imminent and which changes everything.
This being the origin of the Playground Association of
America, an abundance of information was given through this
story, using actual places and some of the people of that
time and place. The conditions of the West side of Chicago
were deplorable and incomprehensible to me as a reader. I
was devastated at the look of conditions and treatment of
children during that era. Even though of hard times, the
history was something I will never forget, as it was
related so graphically through the words and pictures
throughout. This is a truly remarkable author that can
provide so heart wrenching a story with so much history and
keep the reader engrossed, page after page.
From the bestselling author of It Happened at the Fair comes
a historical love story about a lady doctor and a Texas
Ranger who meet at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.
Saddled with a man’s name, the captivating Billy Jack Tate
makes no apologies for taking on a man’s profession. As a
doctor at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, she is one step
closer to having her very own medical practice—until Hunter
Scott asks her to give it all up to become his wife.
Hunter is one of the elite. A Texas Ranger and World’s Fair
guard specifically chosen for his height, physique,
character, and skill. Hailed as the toughest man west of any
place east, he has no patience for big cities and women who
think they belong anywhere but home…
Despite their difference of opinion on the role of women,
Hunter and Billy find a growing attraction between them—
until Hunter discovers an abandoned baby in the corner of a
White City exhibit. He and Billy team up to make sure this
foundling isn’t left in the slums of Chicago with only the
flea-riddled, garbage-infested streets for a playground. As
they fight for the underprivileged children in the
Nineteenth Ward, an entire Playground Movement is birthed.
But when the Fair comes to an end, one of them will have to
give up their dream.
Will Billy exchange her doctor’s shingle for the
domesticated role of a southern wife, or will Hunter abandon
the wide open spaces of home for a life in the “gray city,”
a woman who insists on being the wage earner, and a group of
ragamuffins who need more than a playground for breathing
space?
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