Deeanne Gist uses the 1893 Chicago World Fair (also known as the Columbian Exposition) to showcase a charming and deeply satisfying love story set in a time when society was changing at a breakneck pace. IT HAPPENED AT THE FAIR brings together a young inventor facing physical challenges with a woman focused on her teaching career.

Gist's use of archival images to illustrate the settings of several scenes is a very nice touch, bringing the reader into the story in a way more common in books from the turn of the century, which adds to the feeling one gets of being swept to another time. Although she is upfront about a few liberties taken with physical layout and the time line of the fair's events, Deanne Gist has used intensive research to create a fascinating milieu surrounding a simple and enchanting love story. Cullen McNamara and Della Wentworth are characters I shall remember for a very long time.

Deeanne Gist's device of dropping vowels and using italics to communicate Cullen's increasing difficulty in hearing took a little getting used to, but the overall affect of letting the reader experience his worsening condition made it worth while. It only took a few chapters to get used to it.

I thoroughly enjoyed IT HAPPENED AT THE FAIR, Deeanne Gist's sweet yet substantial romance. I am now intrigued with the time period and events surrounding the World's Fair and am delighted that another book with the same setting has been published (Fair Play, published May 2014.) I hope Deeanne Gist keeps writing more books like IT HAPPENED AT THE FAIR (and Fair Play) perhaps surrounded by other historical events. I think it is a niche that needs filling.