Fiona Davis (1) (1966–)

I really enjoyed this book, especially the setting: The New York Public Library.
The story shifts between two characters and two times. Laura Lyons, is the wife of the Superintendent of the New York Public Library in 1913. At the time, the family of the Superindendent gets to live in an apartment within the Library. She has everything going for her, a wonderful husband and family, yet she yearns to help her husband, and convinces him to allow her to go to school for Journalism. She's one of only a few women in the class, and the woman are told to investigate matters that would concern women, not things like politics. Determined to make a difference, she soon uncovers a group of women, fighting for rights like suffrage, birth control, voting, and she soon sees her home life as a mere shell of what's important.
80 years later, Sadie has gotten her dream job as a Curator of the New York Public Library. She's been drawn to the library since she found out her Grandmother was Laura Lyons, the famous Essayist.
Sadie unravels how Laura went from Wife and Mother to famous Essayist, and also soon discovers they have another link that brings them together. Precious books are being stolen, in similar ways, from the Library, which brought disaster to Laura and threatens Sadie too.
Fascinating...I'll be looking into a behind the scenes tour of the Library when I'm in NYC, that's for sure.… (more)

The Magnolia Palace in the title refers to the Frick Mansion. Fiona Davis has written a book imagining that two famous women of the early 2oth met and worked together to plan the Frick Art Reference Library. Although the character of Lillian is based on the "supermodel" Audrey Munson, Davis writes that she and Helen Frick probably never crossed paths. Davis writes, "I like to layer a fictional story over the scaffolding of historical facts..." What results, in this case, is a very entertaining mystery that inspires one to find out more! It is like the scavenger hunt within the novel...how much of the plot is based on fact?I was also interested in the many pieces of art and sculpture mentioned in the story.
Also, although I visited the Frick years ago, I would like to revisit with a deeper understanding of the family's history.
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Grand Central Station--a history. Continuing her exploration of New York's well known buildings, Davis creates a story around known historical facts. As always, her research is the most fascinating part of her novel. In the late 1920s when an art school existed in the structure, well known artists began their careers. Decades later a challenge to the value of the edifice, nearly brought it down. Although I enjoyed the stories told in both timelines, I did find some of the aspects a bit cheesy. So not my favorite, but still a solid 3 star read for me.… (more)