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Bob Hartley was raised on the West Side of Chicago. He holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Pittsburgh. His first novel, Following Tommy, was published in 2012 by Cervena Barva Press to extremely favorable reviews. He has been, among other things, a writer, actor, singer, teacher, bartender, mailroom clerk, and washer of soap molds. He currently makes his living as a respiratory therapist and lives in Pittsburgh with his wife and two children.
This is the Chicago story of my grandfathers and father and uncles. It's as tough and real and bittersweet as an old neighborhood dive. In fact, it might just be one come alive. - Bill Hillmann, author of The Old NeighborhoodIn this memorable and tender novel that brings to vivid life working-class bar culture of 1970s Chicago, Bob Hartley has created a lovable cast of miscreants that brings to mind the great Studs Lonigan novels of James T. Farrell. - Joseph G. Peterson, author of Wanted: Elevator ManIs there a Chicago School? North and Central belongs on the shelf alongside Sister Carrie, Studs Lonigan, Native Son and The Man with the Golden Arm, works that truthfully portray the grit of Hartley's favorite city (and mine). - Noel Ignatiev, author of How the Irish Became WhiteBob Hartley nails late-seventies blue collar Chicago, with jobs going away, bills coming due and cops you can't tell from the robbers. North and Central captures the loyalty, the toughness and the desperation of the shot and beer crowd. - Sam Reaves, author of Mob CopYou're not sure you want to be among these people and yet...you're not going to find a good way to leave any of them. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
