Below, you’ll find the full transcript of today’s episode, in case you prefer to read or want to reference something we talked about.

Wealth is but an illusion, hers to wield and his to escape.

CHICAGO, Ill., 1892—Stunt reporter Ali Di Stasio will risk anything to expose the truth and protect her fellow orphans, including rummaging through trash bins and putting herself in the crosshairs of the dangerous elite. After living on the streets, she knows every corner of her city, which means she can stay one step ahead of the cops, the powerful men who’d love to silence her before she can reveal their secrets, and the occasional wealthy bachelor wandering through her alleyways, lost and in danger of being mugged.

Griff Moorland, heir-apparent to his father’s shipping enterprise, is summoned home to Chicago’s wealthiest neighborhood for one purpose: marriage. Worse, his choices are to marry the conniving daughter of his father’s business partner or an heiress with a sizable dowry. If he doesn’t comply before the contract to bring in steel for the Columbian Exposition ends? His ailing mother will be stranded across an ocean, homeless.

Caught between keeping his mother alive and his father’s questionable business practices, Griff needs a way out of the bind his father has put him in. When Ali swoops in like a knight in shining armor, she insists the pen is mightier than a sword. But with the Chicago World’s Fair fast approaching, sinister forces conspire against them. Will love prove only a mirage, or will it be strong enough to set them free?

La Verità con Integrità. Truth with Integrity. The Legacy of a (Girl) Stunt Reporter.

A Di Stasio Giornaliste Agency origin story and a retelling of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp.

Danielle Grandinetti writes award-winning 1930s historical romance filled with mystery, suspense, and hope. She is a second-generation Italian-American rooted in Midwest traditions. Fueled by tea, books, and the creative beauty of nature, her stories explore love and belonging in hard times. Find her online at daniellegrandinetti.com.

Welcome to A Spot of Story with Danielle Grandinetti. Cozy up with your favorite beverage as we chat about sweet romance, thrilling suspense, and fascinating history. Perhaps you’ll find your next read in one of these stories.

On this episode of Echoes of History, we’re stepping back not into the 1930s, but much farther back. Today, we’re going to explore the original story of Aladdin and how it became the inspiration behind Undercover Wish, my Aladdin retelling.

The original story was titled Aladdin and the Magic Lamp. We know it in its musical forms, particularly ones with actors like Robin Williams and Will Smith. The music is one of my favorite parts of the story, but one of the reasons I always liked it—despite its cultural issues—was the chance to see a main character who looked like me. I have dark hair, and when I get out in the sun, that Italian heritage comes out and I get dark skin. Seeing myself reflected in characters is such an important part of childhood and adulthood—to see ourselves represented in the stories we read, see, and listen to. For me, Aladdin has always held that special place in my heart because of that.

Retellings have never really been my usual genre of choice. However, I wrote my first retelling in Heart of Beauty, which was a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Ever since, I’ve wanted to write an Aladdin story. At the time, I even considered it for that particular book, but the original story of Aladdin is so fraught with racial difficulties, misrepresentations, and stereotypes that it wasn’t the right fit. I held onto the idea, knowing that someday the right story would come that would need this retelling as its foundation stone.

As I was considering the origin story for the Di Stasio Giornaliste Agency series and Ali’s story, she actually first appeared in Investigation of a Journalist. I was beginning to realize that I wanted to have a stunt journalist, and from that, the series developed. Ali was not her original name when I first started writing her character. In fact, she didn’t appear in Carrie’s story at the end of the Harbored in Crow’s Nest series.

As I delved into the origin of the Di Stasio Agency and the fact that stunt journalism was at its height in the late 1800s, all of a sudden these puzzle pieces started connecting. I realized this was my chance to have an Aladdin retelling—not just an Aladdin retelling, but a reverse Aladdin retelling. Ali, the intrepid stunt reporter, was my Aladdin character. So, way back when I was writing Carrie’s story, I rewrote the side character to be Ali, and I fell in love with her. Granted, in Carrie’s story, it is many years in the future, but I knew she was going to be this older aunt figure who takes everyone under her wing. She is essentially the incredible foster mom who shows children “found family.”

So, where did her origin begin, and how did that relate to the Di Stasio Agency? Enter Aladdin and the Magic Lamp.

If you’re familiar with the Disney versions of the story, those are copyrighted. I needed to go into the public domain version, which is much older, and dive into the original story. The common understanding is that Aladdin and the Magic Lamp is part of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights—the story of the young woman who was facing death and needed to tell stories to keep herself alive. It is often thought that this was one of those stories.

It’s not.

It was added by an author who translated the original Arabian Nights and added Aladdin and the Magic Lamp. So, I went further back to find the original story and discovered two things: one, it was even more racially stereotyped and prejudiced; and two, it was actually the perfect backdrop for the story blooming out of Ali’s life.

In the late 1800s in Chicago, Italian immigrants were a heavily targeted and prejudiced community. My story takes place just a couple of years after the largest mass lynching in U.S. history, which happened in New Orleans and involved eleven Italian Americans. There were many issues in Chicago, and layered on top of that was the construction of the Chicago World’s Fair, known as the “White City.” I thought that was such a picture of “whitewashing” history. The immigrants who worked on the project were often mistreated, and women were often overlooked. Enter amazing women like Jane Addams, who founded Hull House to bring women into safe homes and help them escape poverty. All these cultural dynamics were churning around in the city of Chicago.

Enter the Aladdin story.

Thank you for tuning into this episode of A Spot of Story. This is part one of two, so please join me next month to finish listening to how Aladdin and the Magic Lamp inspired Undercover Wish.

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Until next time, may your reading bring both light and encouragement.

Happy reading!
~ Danielle.