The City Beautiful: Chapters 6–14

by Aden Polydoros
Ahead of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, Jewish teenage boys begin to disappear from the city's streets. After his best friend goes missing, Alter must race to solve the mystery before he becomes the killer's next victim.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–14, Chapters 15–27, Chapters 28–39, Chapter 40–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. gist
    the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work
    Some words were a mystery to me, but I got the gist of the story after scanning it over twice more.
  2. gild
    decorate with, or as if with, gold leaf or liquid gold
    Her arms and face were plaster made to resemble marble, her gown gilded in gold leaf that, upon catching the burnished sun, transformed her garment into a mantle of fire.
  3. resolute
    firm in purpose or belief
    But in her resolute pose and raised arms, there existed an undeniable hostility, as if she were preparing to march into battle.
  4. imposing
    impressive in appearance
    Frankie clung to my trail, following me past riveted metal machines, past imposing cannons and naval guns, past armored plates and display cases of mortars and bullets.
  5. mote
    a tiny piece of anything
    In the dusky shadows, Frankie’s eyes were as luminously gold as the constellations of dust motes floating above our heads.
  6. tawny
    having the color of tanned leather
    He studied me with those magnetizing tawny eyes of his, eyes that had haunted my daydreams since the day I met him.
  7. cadence
    the rhythmic rise and fall of the voice
    His dialect was of the east, Lithuania or the like. In spite of his unkempt hair and uncovered head, his musical cadence suggested he had been educated in a yeshiva.
  8. lilt
    a jaunty rhythm in music or speech
    As he moved onto my other hand, either not caring what the other boys might think or just entirely oblivious to it, he continued talking to me in that mesmerizing lilt of his.
  9. libel
    a false and malicious publication
    I suppose maybe they’ll even add a bit of scandalous excitement with a blood libel accusation, or bring in some Cossacks so we can re-create the Khmelnytsky Uprising.
  10. fester
    gnaw into; make resentful or angry
    The massacres had happened over two hundred years ago, but the wound they’d made in our cultural history was left raw and festering, like a fault line that may begin trembling again at any moment.
  11. promenade
    a public area set aside as a pedestrian walk
    His drumming fingers stilled, and his gaze wandered to the waterway running along the teahouse promenade.
  12. cursory
    hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough
    Frankie picked up the menu and gave it a cursory glance.
  13. pogrom
    organized persecution of an ethnic group, especially Jews
    “Alter, this isn’t Russia. There aren’t pogroms here.”
    “I’m not talking about that, not anything state-sponsored.”
    “What then?”
    “I don’t know. Someone acting alone. Someone who hates us.”
  14. providence
    the guardianship and control exercised by a deity
    This feeling in my gut, that there was something more at work here than just the two of us. Not divine providence, but...something.
  15. indiscriminately
    in a random manner
    I felt like a tornado, indiscriminately uprooting things and yanking them into my path.
  16. scathing
    marked by harshly abusive criticism
    Even worse, Mr. Weiss gave me a scathing lecture when I
 showed up for work this morning, and put me to work cleaning and oiling all the presses.
  17. challah
    (Judaism) a braided loaf of white bread containing eggs
    That’s because you’d rather read about challah recipes and Torah dedications than pull your head out of the dirt.
  18. solemn
    dignified and somber in manner or character
    There was something solemn and reverent about the way they huddled within those shadowed niches, their voices soft enough to be indistinct, as though they were praying in tabernacles.
  19. reverent
    feeling or showing profound respect or veneration
    There was something solemn and reverent about the way they huddled within those shadowed niches, their voices soft enough to be indistinct, as though they were praying in tabernacles.
  20. niche
    an enclosure that is set back or indented
    There was something solemn and reverent about the way they huddled within those shadowed niches, their voices soft enough to be indistinct, as though they were praying in tabernacles.
  21. decadent
    marked by excessive self-indulgence and moral decay
    Same for running across a member of my shul, although I doubted any of them planned to spend their evening in Chicago’s decadent underbelly.
  22. warren
    an overcrowded residential area
    Like any warren, the Levee had passageways known only to its inhabitants. The buildings were placed so closely together, it was easy to leap from rooftop to rooftop or race across rickety planks stretched over alleyways.
  23. wainscoting
    wooden panels that can be used to line the walls of a room
    The corridor’s walls were a deep forest green adorned with maple wainscoting.
  24. lithe
    moving and bending with ease
    The other boy had several centimeters on Frankie, but Frankie had the lithe, compact build and ruthlessness of a Carpathian lynx.
  25. decanter
    a bottle with a stopper; for serving drinks
    After lighting the gas lamps, Frankie walked over to the counter, where a decanter sat on a silver tray.
  26. uncouth
    lacking refinement or cultivation or taste
    This conversation is too uncouth for someone like you. You come from a good family, a good upbringing.
  27. demeanor
    the way a person behaves toward other people
    He maintained his calm demeanor, but his voice held a hint of venom.
  28. racketeer
    carry on illegal business activities
    Provided his code of honor hadn’t changed in the last ten months, blackmailing, corporate sabotage, and racketeering would still be fair game.
  29. mortified
    made to feel uncomfortable because of shame or wounded pride
    “I’m sorry,” I said, mortified as she leaned down to scoop up the scatter of potato peels and marrow bones that had fallen from her sack.
  30. fastidious
    giving careful attention to detail
    Mrs. Brenner’s apartment was tiny but fastidiously neat, with the majority of its space devoted to a table that seated six, and a stool for her to perch on when she orchestrated matchmaking meetings.
  31. uncanny
    surpassing the ordinary or normal
    I couldn’t see his face, but I had the uncanny feeling he was grinning at me.
  32. demur
    politely refuse or take exception to
    “I’m afraid that would be improper,” she demurred, before glancing over at Raizel.
  33. squalor
    sordid dirtiness
    Despite its dilapidation and squalor, Maxwell Street had always felt secure and familiar to me.
  34. bourgeois
    conforming to the conventions of the middle class
    “A cultured American?” I lifted my eyebrow. “How very bourgeois of you.”
  35. genial
    diffusing warmth and friendliness
    His blue eyes were genial and closely set, with one magnified by a golden monocle.
  36. modus operandi
    an unvarying or habitual method or procedure
    Nonetheless, those finds hardly fit the Ripper’s modus operandi. They bear only a slight resemblance to the Thames Torso Murders, and here at the club, we can’t even decide if the Ripper was responsible for those murders either.
  37. emaciated
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    To our right, an emaciated mummy of a man guzzled ruby-red punch out of what eerily resembled a human brainpan.
  38. contempt
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    Lowering his cup, he glared at us with cold contempt.
  39. discerning
    having or revealing keen insight and good judgment
    “He barters in stolen goods mainly, but he also has a few respectable clients with more, dare I say, discerning tastes.”
  40. ostentatious
    intended to attract notice and impress others
    Now that I had a chance to think about it, the Whitechapel Club’s decorations struck me as ostentatious and overdone as the false medals of a military imposter.
Created on Fri Aug 19 10:05:58 EDT 2022 (updated Fri Sep 09 09:54:03 EDT 2022)

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