Behind every skyline there are neighborhoods, relationships, people, and stories …

Windy City Stories by Dave & Neta Jackson

Grounded

Book #1 in the Windy City Neighbors series

By Neta Jackson and Dave Jackson

Grounded ... But hope may be just across the street

Grace Meredith is a beloved Christian recording artist whose career and personal life hits unexpected turbulence. She feels grounded—in more ways than one.

Grace’s fiancé, bothered by her outspoken stance on purity and her near-constant travel, has broken off their relationship. Exhausted and unable to continue her current concert schedule, Grace returns to her Chicago home, where she is soon stranded in a major snowstorm. Facing new questions about her future and her faith, Grace finds herself connecting for the first time with the residents of her neighborhood. What she discovers in these unexpected relationships could change everything.

— Welcome to the Neighborhood —

The first in the Windy City Neighbors series, Grounded is an uplifting, contemporary story about ordinary people wrestling with the spiritual and practical issues of real life. The series employs the innovative storytelling technique of “parallel novels,” each with its own drama and story arc, but whose characters’ lives become intertwined and affect one another. Grounded welcomes you to Beecham Street—a typical, isolated American neighborhood that might just be a place of hope.

Derailed

Book #2 in the Windy City Neighbors series

By Neta Jackson and Dave Jackson

Derailed … are God’s zigzag directions throwing him off track?

After marrying Estelle, the love of his life, Harry Bentley’s apartment feels too cramped, especially since his teenage grandson, DaShawn, already lives with him. God seems to provide the perfect solution in a new home on Beecham Street, a two-flat that will provide room for his family and perhaps his 88-year-old mother.

But when his mother is unable to share the mortgage, Harry has to go back to work as a detective, receiving a bizarre undercover assignment that sends him across the country by train and causes him to suspect his own son in a major crime. Each time Harry thinks he’s following God’s leading, his plans get derailed and he has to figure out what to do all over again.

— What in the world is God doing? —

Perhaps the only thing going right is that he and Estelle are getting to know their new neighbors … but discover the neighborhood has been so fragmented it almost led to an old woman’s death. What will it take to create community among these isolated families?

Determined to make a difference, Harry and Estelle begin reaching out and even risk needing their neighbors. But as their lives become more intertwined, what does the young singer across the street mean by saying, “That’s the second time you saved me, you know”?

Penny Wise

Book #3 in the Windy City Neighbors series

By Neta Jackson and Dave Jackson

Penny Wise … but does God care about "just pennies"?

Michelle Jasper doesn’t have much time to hang out with her neighbors—not with thirteen-year-old twins, another teen with hoop dreams, a full-time job as a caseworker, volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center, and heading up the women’s ministry at Northside Baptist. Her husband’s constantly changing shifts as an air traffic controller at the world’s busiest airport—Chicago’s O’Hare International—and responsibilities as a trusted deacon at Northside only add to the juggling act at the Jasper household.

Her new neighbors, Harry and Estelle Bentley, mean well with their friendly efforts to bring people together, but how can she deal with neighborhood concerns—like Greg Singer, who lost his job and is now trying to recruit sales reps from the neighborhood for his new venture—when she’s confronted with tragic family situations daily in her job? Like little Candy and her baby brother Pookey, victims of neglect . . .

— The tyranny of the urgent —

With the “tyranny of the urgent” crowding out the important, Michelle is blindsided by danger involving her own kids—and a personal crisis that calls into question the very values she holds dear. How could this happen? Does God even care?

As her life unravels, a missing penny—and a “penny from heaven”—give her a shred of hope. But will God just laugh at her penny test?

Pound Foolish

Book #4 in the Windy City Neighbors series

By Neta Jackson and Dave Jackson

Penny Wise and Pound Foolish. What's the Difference?

Greg Singer coordinates consumer sports shows for powerboats, four wheelers, snowmobiles, and jet skis—macho toys for outdoor men like himself. But the job puts tremendous stress on his marriage with Nicole, who for the first time notices the handsome lawyer at the end of the block. “Greener pastures?” When the recession hits Greg’s industry, he thinks the crisis is merely an opportunity for God to bless him with unmatched prosperity, a promise he hears preached each Sunday, and he steps out in bold faith . . .

But is he being “pound foolish”?

The fourth in the Windy City Neighbors series, Pound Foolish explores the economic upheaval and uncertainties challenging every family. Intersecting with Penny Wise (book three), the Jacksons employ the innovating storytelling technique of “parallel novels.” Though each book follows its own drama and story arc, the characters’ lives become intertwined and affect one another. Pound Foolish returns us to Beecham Street—a typical American neighborhood . . . where a growing friendship brings new meaning to prosperity.

Snowmageddon

Book #5 in the Windy City Neighbors series

By Neta Jackson and Dave Jackson

After so much progress, Beecham Street faces another blizzard!

Harry and Estelle Bentley love their new neighborhood and have made a priority of getting to know the neighbors on their block. But when one family needs to quickly sell their home that fall, the question of “who’s going to move in” pits neighbor against neighbor. Estelle Bentley has her own reasons for wanting a group home for mentally challenged adults to buy the building, but she’s blindsided by the pushback she gets from other neighbors. Even simmering resentments from last winter’s big snow come to a boil between the Jewish father and the Iranian “hero” whose snowplow damaged his property. How did it come to this?

The Bentleys face their own challenges, as Harry’s son wants to regain custody of the boy he abandoned, and Estelle’s schizophrenic son has his own big ideas about his future. The upcoming trial of the drug mule Harry arrested working undercover on Amtrak spooks the young girl who’d agreed to testify against him—and she runs. Even the happy tidings of wedding bells and an expectant mother are threatened when the neighborhood is snowed under by an historic blizzard, even bigger than the last one.

Enjoy the conclusion to the Windy City Neighbors series as Beecham Street faces its toughest challenge yet—until rescue comes from some surprising corners of “the neighborhood.”

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It's always fun to see how authors write their books. Below is a video we think you will enjoy in which we take you to the actual street where we set our Windy City Neighbors series. We also take you on the 5,500 mile train trip we went on for research for these novels.

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Grounded