Copy shamelessly plagiarized from goodreads.com
Expert: Paula
Hostess: Terrie
On the eve of the 1898 Omaha World’s Fair, Ferret Skerritt – ventriloquist by trade, conman by birth – isn’t quite sure how it will change him or his city. Omaha still has the marks of a filthy Wild West town, even as it attempts to achieve the grandeur and respectability of nearby Chicago. But when he crosses paths with the beautiful and enigmatic Cecily, his whole purpose shifts and the fair becomes the backdrop to their love affair.
One of a travelling troupe of actors that has descended on the city, Cecily works in the Midway’s Chamber of Horrors, where she loses her head hourly on a guillotine playing Marie Antoinette. And after closing, she rushes off, clinging protectively to a mysterious carpet bag, never giving Ferret a second glance. But a moonlit ride on the swan gondola, a boat on the lagoon of the New White City, changes everything, and the fair’s magic begins to take its effect.
• • • •
Paula added this link to a highly favorable review in The Washington Post. Author Timothy Schaffert teaches at UNL.
I went to the Omaha Public Library’s website dealing with the Trans- Mississippi Exposition and found its treasure trove of photos. Among the more intriguing are:
