Books Set in Illinois

Ghost Tamer

By: Meredith R. Lyons
Narrated by: Piper Goodeve
Length: 10 hours 23 minutes

Death is one thing, it's what you do afterward that matters. Aspiring-comedian Raely is the sole survivor of a disastrous train wreck. While faced with the intense grief of losing her best friend, she realizes that someone is following her—and has been following her all her life. Trouble is, no one else can see him. For a ghostly tag-along,... Read more

The Devil in the White City

Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

By: Erik Larson
Narrated by: Scott Brick
Length: 14 hours 58 minutes

“The Devil in the White City is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. Set amidst the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Erik Larson's historical narrative interweaves the stories of two men who would come to define it, for better and for worse. One is Daniel Burnham, chief architect of the Fair, who threw his entire being into creating a... Read more

The Time Traveler's Wife

By: Audrey Niffenegger
Narrated by: Fred Berman & Phoebe Strole
Length: 17 hours 35 minutes

This bestselling and innovative debut novel from Audrey Niffenegger explores the perfect marriage, one that is tested by challenges the couple can neither control nor predict. An imaginative extension of everyday life, the story asks: What if two people who loved each other deeply, married, and faced a life in which one person remained constant... Read more

The House on Mango Street

By: Sandra Cisneros
Narrated by: Sandra Cisneros
Length: 2 hours 17 minutes

A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A coming-of-age classic about a young girl growing up in Chicago • Acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught in schools and universities alike, and translated around the world—from the winner of the 2025 Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award from the National... Read more

Native Son

By: Richard Wright
Narrated by: Peter Francis James
Length: 17 hours 44 minutes

One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels“If one had to identify the single most influential shaping force in modern Black literary history, one would probably have to point to Wright and the publication of Native Son.” – Henry Louis Gates Jr.""The most powerful American novel to appear since The Grapes of Wrath."" —The New YorkerWhen it was... Read more

Divergent

Divergent Series

By: Veronica Roth
Narrated by: Emma Galvin
Length: 11 hours 11 minutes

Discover or return to the dystopian series that's captured the hearts of millions of teen and adult readers! This first in Veronica Roth's #1 New York Times bestselling Divergent series of books is the novel the inspired the major motion picture starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James, and Kate Winslet.   Perfect for fans of the Hunger Games and... Read more

The Litigators

By: John Grisham
Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
Length: 11 hours 32 minutes

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • After leaving a fast-track legal career and going on a serious bender, David Zinc is sober, unemployed, and desperate enough to take a job at Finley & Figg, a self-described “boutique law firm” that is anything but.

What they are is a two-bit operation always in search of their big break, ambulance chasers... Read more

Chicago Poems

The Early Poetry of Carl Sandburg

Early Poetry of Carl Sandburg

By: Carl Sandburg
Narrated by: Robert Bethune
Length: 2 hours 12 minutes

This was Carl Sandburg's breakthrough book. It is easy to see how it draws directly on Sandburg's life in Chicago, as it speaks powerfully of the specific character of that city and begins with his famous poem that names Chicago as the "City of the Broad Shoulders". His poetry is deeply aware of the inner life of the city, from a homeless woman... Read more

The Jungle

By: Upton Sinclair
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
Length: 13 hours 17 minutes

Here is the dramatic expos├® of the Chicago meatpacking industry at the turn of the century that prompted the investigation by Theodore Roosevelt which culminated in the pure-food legislation of 1906.The Jungle is the story of Jurgis Rudkus, a Slavic immigrant who marries frail Ona Lukoszaite and seeks security and happiness as a workman in the... Read more

Sister Carrie

By: Theodore Dreiser
Narrated by: C. M. Hébert
Length: 17 hours 3 minutes

When small-town girl Carrie Meeber sets out for Chicago, she is equipped with nothing but a few dollars, a certain unspoiled beauty and charm, and a pitiful lack of preparation for the complex moral choices she will face. Adrift in an indifferent city, she struggles from the sweatshop to stage success and inspires an obsessive love in a married... Read more