Gulmore, the Boss

In the smoky backrooms of 19th-century politics, Jonathan Byrne Gulmore rules his city with an iron will and a practiced smile. He's built a political empire on patronage, favor, and the careful cultivation of weakness in others. But when a reform-minded professor threatens to unseat him in the upcoming election, Gulmore faces something he rarely encounters: genuine opposition. At home, his daughter Ida harbors secrets that could shatter his carefully constructed world. She's fallen for the very man her father despises, even as she craves his approval and the social advancement his power promises. Harris writes with sardonic precision about the machinery of political corruption, the domestic tensions that mirror public battles, and the terrible cost of ambition. The prose crackles with period detail and psychological acuity. For readers who love political novels that expose the rot beneath respectability, this is a forgotten gem that feels startlingly contemporary.