A TIMES BOOK OF THE MONTH. It is 1800, and the future of Chicago hangs in the balance, to be decided on the outcome of a game of chess. Win or lose, the result will reverberate through the next 100 years of history, and the players' lives, the lives of their descendants, and the city itself will never be the same again...

In between periods spent living in the UK, Kenya, Gambia, Greece, and Louisiana, USA, Jonathan Carr first visited Chicago in 1983. A graduate of Cambridge University, he has worked as a travel correspondent, a book reviewer, and a teacher of English. He holds a PhD from Bath Spa University in Creative Writing. Make Me A City is his first novel.