The Flog – The Fabry Log

Our first apartment in Chicago was at a place called Atrium Village. It was built at the edge of the Cabrini-Green housing project, just across the El tracks. To the east was a thriving, burgeoning downtown area. The west was intense poverty and violence.

We lived on the third floor of 300 W. Hill Street. Because my salary was so low, we qualified for government assistance. We also qualified for government butter and cheese that was handed out every few weeks.

In the new novel, The Promise of Jesse Woods, Matt Plumley lives in this apartment. In fact, the first chapter shows Matt with his friend Dantrelle, who lives in Cabrini. Matt has come to Chicago to help inner-city kids escape poverty and hopelessness. Then he gets a call from a childhood friend that changes his life.

Throughout the book, there is a theme running through that shows that you and I make lousy "saviors." Matt doesn't understand this at the beginning of the story, but by the end he has a better handle on part of the problem he brings to the people he is trying to help.

This link to real life is another reason to put The Promise of Jesse Woods on your summer reading list.

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Find out more about The Promise of Jesse Woods