The bittersweet, sharply observed stories in Blue in Chicago introduce British readers for the first time to Bette Howland, a forgotten great of twentieth-centu

The club is run-down and dimly lit. Onstage, a black singer croons and weeps of heartbreak, fighting back the tears. Wisps of smoke curl through the beam of a s

"Chicago, a partitioned city, walled and wired" is the place, and Bette Howland's blue-collar, working-class Jewish family are the people. In a city torn by rac

The work of a woman who has invested her life in her art, and who will, I think be remembered as one of the significant writers of her generation.' Saul BellowB

List of IllustrationsList of TablesAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I. The Quest for Independence, 1920-19401. Building Independence in Suburbia2. Peopling the S