You should know that Hill is not Chicago-born and raised. She is from the suburbs of Baltimore and soon after graduating from college she and her new husband, Win, moved to Evanston where they raised two daughters. She writes: “When we moved to Chicago in 1957, my husband, who had lived here earlier, introduced me to Lake Michigan in the hope that I would share his pleasure at living near this inland sea. But the lake seemed flat and featureless to me, except on those days when an east wind kicked up dramatic waves … I craved the excitement and the vitality of a river, of water running in a groove in the earth, an ever-changing drama of ripples and calm … When I found the Chicago River, I felt at home.”