The Magnolia Palace
Book Feature - The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis
HBL Note: Longtime readers of The Hasty Book List know that I adore Fiona Davis and her books. I’ve read all of her books including The Dollhouse, The Masterpiece, The Chelsea Girls, The Address, and The Lions of Fifth Avenue. I’ve also had the opportunity to interview Fiona a number of times, both in person and virtually. This year I asked her to be my first guest on a podcast I’m co-hosting, The Best of Women’s Fiction. Her episode will air on February 12.
All of Fiona’s books are set in historic buildings in New York City. THE MAGNOLIA PALACE takes place at the Frick Mansion, the former home of Henry Clay Frick which is now an art museum and library. The story is told as a dual timeline (as many of her books are) between the late 19-teens when Lillian becomes the private secretary for Helen Frick (Henry’s daughter) and the late 1960s, when Veronica arrives at the mansion for modeling gig and discovers an old scavenger hunt leading to a Frick treasure.
I absolutely adored this book. A major departure from Fiona’s previous novels is that several of the characters in this book are real people in history, that is people with with Wikipedia pages. I felt like I learned quite a bit about the Frick family dynamics as well as their art collection. I was also fascinated to learn about the real woman that inspired the character of Lillian. Scroll down to read more about THE MAGNOLIA PALACE by Fiona Davis.
Book Feature - The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis
Book Feature - The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis
From the publisher:
Eight months since losing her mother in the Spanish flu outbreak of 1919, twenty-one-year-old Lillian Carter's life has completely fallen apart. For the past six years, under the moniker Angelica, Lillian was one of the most sought-after artists' models in New York City, with statues based on her figure gracing landmarks from the Plaza Hotel to the Brooklyn Bridge. But with her mother gone, a grieving Lillian is rudderless and desperate—the work has dried up and a looming scandal has left her entirely without a safe haven. So when she stumbles upon an employment opportunity at the Frick mansion—a building that, ironically, bears her own visage—Lillian jumps at the chance. But the longer she works as a private secretary to the imperious and demanding Helen Frick, the daughter and heiress of industrialist and art patron Henry Clay Frick, the more deeply her life gets intertwined with that of the family—pulling her into a tangled web of romantic trysts, stolen jewels, and family drama that runs so deep, the stakes just may be life or death.
Nearly fifty years later, mod English model Veronica Weber has her own chance to make her career—and with it, earn the money she needs to support her family back home—within the walls of the former Frick residence, now converted into one of New York City's most impressive museums. But when she—along with a charming intern/budding art curator named Joshua—is dismissed from the Vogue shoot taking place at the Frick Collection, she chances upon a series of hidden messages in the museum: messages that will lead her and Joshua on a hunt that could not only solve Veronica's financial woes, but could finally reveal the truth behind a decades-old murder in the infamous Frick family.
Book Feature - The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis
