The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis Published by Penguin on January 25, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Historical / General, Fiction / Literary, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General
Pages: 368
Format: Hardcover
Source: Book of the Month
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue, returns with a tantalizing novel about the secrets, betrayal, and murder within one of New York City's most impressive Gilded Age mansions.
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.
My Review
This was my January 2022 pick for Book of the Month and I am so happy it was. The Magnolia Palace takes place in New York between 1919 and 1966. In the story, we follow a model, her mother, and the well-off Frick family (1919). In 1966 we follow Veronica an English model and Joshua a student and intern at the Frick Museum.
The setting in 1919 involves romantic struggles, family drama, stolen jewels, jealousy, death, and the possibility of murder. The setting for 1966 revolves around a model who is struggling to free her sister Polly from an institution. Veronica comes to the US for a photoshoot at the Frick Museum where she meets Joshua an art intern. Together they stumble upon some clues that revolve around a scavenger hunt. Little do they know that those clues could lead to so much more than what they had bargained for.
Fiona Davis has a way with words that is for sure. I loved reading about these characters and how their lives seem to intertwine even though there are almost 50 years between them. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Frick Family and museum are real and that the Muse from 1919 known as Lilly or Angelica is lightly based on a real woman called Audrey Munson.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about different time periods, drama, and mystery. There are trigger warnings for prolonged suffering, mental abuse, and death both natural and unnatural. Oh, I should also mention that the Spanish Flu is talked about in here as well so if a bit of pandemic reading right now isn’t for you then you may want to wait on reading this book.