Make Me A City: a novel of Chicago

`Make Me A City is a thrillingly ambitious and ingeniously accomplished first novel. This is a stunning debut by a new and instantly important literary voice.'

`Jonathan Carr's brilliant novel could not be more relevant to today's world. Make Me A City explores the nature of history itself - both the official record and the suppressed stories that lie beneath. Covering a century, from mid-western wilderness to the bustling modern city of Chicago, it has a correspondingly large cast, but incidents and characters are interwoven to create not just a satisfying narrative but a working model of how civilisation comes into being, for better or worse. This novel itself is a city, one that contains the myriad hopes, ambitions, disappointments and loves of its citizens, as they work like coral insects to build the structure in which they live and die.'

`Make Me A City is a multitude of novels all rolled into one - a wonderfully sprawling epic about Chicago's founding fathers (and mothers), a searching exploration of colonialism in action, and a compelling collection of stories about people and places. But it is something else too, the one thing that is known to all of us, namely a single, tender map of the human heart. In Make Me A City Jonathan Carr draws on his considerable talent to tell the story of Chicago through the eyes of its many inhabitants, exploring life, death and what is left behind with admirable deftness and style. This is a bold, thrilling debut from a seriously good writer.'

`Absolutely magnificent. Carr grasps the complexity of a city's history, the individuals who shape it, those who gain and those who suffer. The prose is graceful and vibrant, the gradual unfolding of the interrelated lives of these people is superbly done. This is an elegant, richly enjoyable book.'

`Make Me A City's scope and scale is quite breathtaking. It digs deep into the history of Chicago to uncover hidden stories about the people who built it. Its clever way of dealing with competing historical narratives is very exciting. A real pleasure to read!'

`The rise of Chicago in the 19th century provides the frame for a trove of colorful stories and characters in this entertaining debut novel ... Carr has a sure touch, and in many extended anecdotes, his narrative skills show exceptional detail, pacing, and tension. A solid storyteller enlivens a rich patch of American history.'