Frank S. Joseph
Author of The Chicago Trilogy.
The Chicago Trilogy (1948)
Steve’s Book
Winner of 8 awards including the Eric Hoffer Award.
A tale of blacks and whites, Christians and Jews, how children view the world, conflict and forgiveness … and Chicago in 1948. “What happens when urban worlds collide? To Love Mercy portrays 1940s Chicago from the South Side to Riverview [Amusement Park], with a focus on two boys, one from Bronzeville, one from Hyde Park. What makes it so remarkable is the careful — loving — care to get the words and cadences right from Chicago of the era of our childhood. A wonderful, very special book.”
– Gary T. Johnson, Former President, Chicago History Museum
To Love Mercy is forthcoming in 2025 from Key Literary. It was previously published by Mid Atlantic Highlands in 2006.
The Chicago Trilogy (1952-57)
Sass’s Book
- “A vibrant tale of 1950s Chicago.” – Kirkus Reviews
- “Joseph brings journalistic chops and novelistic insight to this ambitious novel about Chicago’s racial fault lines in the 1950s.” –IndieReader 5-Star Review
- “(H)andles the tough subject matter with honesty and compassion, never watering down the difficult realities but still leaving room for hope.” –Readers Favorite® 5-Star Review
If Steve Feinberg and Jesse “Sass” Trimble learned anything that wild night four years earlier, it’s that the city of Chicago doesn’t want Blacks and Whites to be friends. Now fate has thrown them back together and this time the odds seem insurmountable. A mysterious silver talisman has gone missing again … both boys want the same girl … and down in Mississippi, someone near and dear is about to be lynched.
Available on Amazon, BookBaby, IndieReader, Bookshop.com or bookstores everywhere
The Chicago Trilogy (1960s)
Pinkie’s Book
- “A gripping, richly textured saga of the civil rights era. Our verdict: Get it.” – Kirkus Reviews
- Book of the Year (honorable mention – indie fiction), Chicago Writers Assn.
- “Joseph has a steely grasp of narrative, flitting between the perspectives of the two protagonists, Pinkie and Mollie—both trenchant in their views in their own ways—with ease.” –An IndieReader Best Book
- “A fast-moving tale of race, corruption and self-discovery set against the unrest – and the hope – of Chicago during Martin Luther King’s fateful 1965-66 fair housing campaign.” –Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts Jr.
It’s 1965, summer in Chicago, and it’s hot. Pinkie, daughter of the city’s meanest streets, is on a quest to find the white woman who gave her birth … as a great city goes up in flames.
