The Spectacular by Fiona Davis – a Review

The Spectacular by Fiona Davis – a Review

 

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Description:
New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion is over the moon to have been selected to be one of the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall’s glamorous precision-dancing troupe. It’s an honor to perform in the world’s most spectacular theater, an art deco masterpiece. But with four shows a day as well as grueling rehearsals, not to mention exacting standards of perfection to live up to, Marion quickly realizes that the life of a Rockette has both extraordinary highs and devastating lows.

Then one night a bomb explodes in the theater. It’s only the latest in a string of explosions around the city orchestrated by a person the press has nicknamed the “Big Apple Bomber.” They have been terrorizing the citizens of New York for sixteen years by planting bombs in popular, crowded spaces. With the public in an uproar over the lack of any real leads after a yearslong manhunt, the police, at Marion’s urging, turn in desperation to a radical new technique: psychological profiling.

As Marion finds herself pulled deeper into the investigation, she realizes that as much as she’s been training herself to blend in—performing in perfect unison with all the other identical Rockettes—if she hopes to catch the bomber, she’ll need to stand out and take a terrifying risk. But she may be forced to sacrifice everything she’s worked for, as well as the people she loves the most.

 

 

Review:

The Spectacular by Fiona Davis is a wonderful standalone novel, which centers on Radio City Music Hall and the 1950’s Rocketts. In 1956, Marion (our heroine), lives with her father and sister in Westchester, and has just been fired from her job as a dance teacher.  She finds an advertisement to audition for the Rocketts, and is offered a job; but her father disapproves, as well as her fiancée, but Marion is determined to live her own life, and defies her father’s wishes.

Marion meets Bunny, who is a regular member of the Rocketts, and quickly they become friends.  Bunny brings her to a boarding house for Rocketts and Actresses, where she can get a room, allowing her to be able to support herself working at Radio City Music Hall. Marion is happy meeting new people, living an exciting life, and learning to be wonderful dancer, knowing this is where she belongs. Though the work is grueling, with four shows a day and one week off a month, Marion is enjoying her life. She is sad that her father continues to ignore her and Nathaniel tries to convince her to quit, but she manages to convince her sister to see her perform. Bunny drags Marion to a local restaurant to meet her boyfriend, and his friend, Peter; who Marion finds very shy; later in the story, Peter will play a large part of the story with Marion.

One night, a bomb explodes in the theater, which is said to be the Big Apple Bomber (actually true story, with villain called in real life, Mad Bomber), who has terrorized New York for 16 years, with no clue who he is.   The bomb hit close to home, and Marion tells the police what he looked like, and she becomes very invested to find the bomber.  She enlists her friend Peter, who is a psychiatric doctor at Creedmore Psychiatric Institute to help; with little support from the police; though Peter tries to explain the type of murderer who kills for revenge, using psychological profiling.  Marion will find herself to be the target of the bomber, who reflects back to her father’s company.  To say too much more will be spoilers, and this is a fantastic story line that should be read from start to finish.

The Spectacular was a fascinating read, with so much going on, such as history, mystery, family drama, Rocketts dancing and danger. I loved all the dancers, the performances, and the friends in Marion’s life; very enjoyable.  Fiona Davis excels in her research, always giving us plenty of history.  The Spectacular was so very well written by Fiona Davis.  I wholly recommend that you read this book, as it is a do not miss.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

 

 

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The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis – Dual Review

The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis – Dual Review

 

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Description:
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.

 

Barb’s Review:
The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis is a historical standalone novel. The book is centered around the Frick Mansion/Museum in two-time frames (1919 & 1966). We meet Lillian Carter from the start, as she is a successful model using the pen name of Angelica, but with the death of her mother, her life has totally fallen apart, struggling to pay her bills. At the age of 21, Lilian depended on her mother to arrange everything, and now she is desperate.

Lillian still dreams of going to Hollywood and becoming a movie star; but when her landlord constantly pressures her, things go from bad to worse, as she becomes a suspect when the landlord’s wife was murdered. Lillian will escape the apartment, and accidently is mistaken for someone else, and ends up getting a job at the Frick Mansion, working as a private secretary for Miss Helen (daughter of Henry Clay Frick).  Lillian plans to stay a month or so just to make some money to pay for her trip to California.  Miss Helen was a difficult and demanding person to work for, but she began to rely on Lillian to do much of the work for her.

In the other timeline of 1966, we meet Veronica Weber, who is also a model, attending the photo shoot for Vogue at the Frick Museum with other more experienced models.  While cleaning up, and walking around, Veronica finds herself locked in the museum, with no power, and to make it worse, a major snow storm hits. While she is stuck at the museum, Veronica she begins to search some papers, and becomes intrigued when she learns about a scavenger hunt created in 1919. In a short period, Veronica runs into Joshua Lawrence, the museum archivist, who fell asleep by his office in the basement.  Together they look for food, drinks and other things and when Veronica tells Joshua about the scavenger hunt, they start looking for clues to help them pass the time, which could be days.

Back in 1919, Lillian (Miss Lily) learns more about the Frick family, and helping Miss Helen send romantic letters to her suiter.  She finds herself pulled into a web of family secrets, betrayals, missing cameo (with the Magnolia diamond), romantic trysts, and murder.

What follows is very well written story that eventually merges the two timelines together.  The missing Magnolia Diamond will play a part in both timelines.  To tell too much more would ruin the book, so you need to read this from start to finish.  Fiona Davis gives us a detailed look at New York in 1919, with the wealthy historic Frick mansion, as well as story of mystery, murder and love.  I did enjoy both timelines, as well as the ending.

 

Sandy’s Review:

THE MAGNOLIA PALACE by Fiona Davis is a story of historical fiction following two alternating timelines (1919 and 1966) that focuses on models Lillian ‘Angelica’ Carter, and Veronica Weber.

Told from dual third person perspective (Lillian and Veronica) THE MAGNOLIA PALACE adds color, and up close but fictional retrospective into the lives of the wealthy and controversial Frick Family of New York City. In 1919, model Lillian Carter is an artist’s muse known as Angelica; a sculptor’s model whose image has been used throughout New York, attached to buildings and museums, but a scandal is about to send our heroine on the run, and in the wake of her mother’s death from the Spanish Flu, has left Lillian penniless and alone. A case of hunger and mistaken identity finds Lillian Carter working as the private secretary for the wealthy Frick heiress Helen Frick, a thirty year old spinster whose own life is entwined with that of her embattled and ailing father. For three months Lillian will keep a low profile working for Helen Frick and the Frick family but her alternate identity is about to be exposed, and another scandal will force our heroine to run for the sins of someone else.

Fast forward to 1966, wherein model Veronica Weber’s latest assignment has landed her in New York for a Vogue shoot at the famed Frick Collection, a museum that was once home to the Frick family heirs. Fired within minutes, Veronica finds herself wandering the museum, only to be trapped inside, along with intern archivist Joshua Lawrence, when a power failure locks down New York City in the wake of a storm. Walking the museum, Veronica finds what looks to be clues to a scavenger hunt from years before, a scavenger hunt that will reveal a truth that will ease some of the ghosts and troubles from the past.

THE MAGNOLIA PALACE is a story of power and riches, the haves and the have-nots, secrets and lies, vengeance and family. Seamlessly blending fact with fiction, as per her style, Fiona Davis pulls the reader into an intriguing and fascinating story of murder and betrayal, family and friendships, love and acceptance, romance and art. Lillian ‘Angelica’ Carter’s character is loosely based upon the scandal-plagued, real-life, early 1900’s artist’s model Audrey Munson, whose image graces the pediment of the Frick Collection, as well as a number of famous statues found in New York. THE MAGNOLIA PALACE is a wonderful escape into a Gilded Age house, and the ghosts that continue to inhabit its’ world.

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The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis-a review

The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 2019: Re-release December 2020

The bright lights of the theater district, the glamour and danger of 1950s New York, and the wild scene at the iconic Chelsea Hotel come together in a dazzling new novel about a twenty-year friendship that will irrevocably change two women’s lives–from the national bestselling author of The Dollhouse and The Address.

From the dramatic redbrick facade to the sweeping staircase dripping with art, the Chelsea Hotel has long been New York City’s creative oasis for the many artists, writers, musicians, actors, filmmakers, and poets who have called it home–a scene playwright Hazel Riley and actress Maxine Mead are determined to use to their advantage. Yet they soon discover that the greatest obstacle to putting up a show on Broadway has nothing to do with their art, and everything to do with politics. A Red Scare is sweeping across America, and Senator Joseph McCarthy has started a witch hunt for communists, with those in the entertainment industry in the crosshairs. As the pressure builds to name names, it is more than Hazel and Maxine’s Broadway dreams that may suffer as they grapple with the terrible consequences, but also their livelihood, their friendship, and even their freedom.

Spanning from the 1940s to the 1960s, The Chelsea Girls deftly pulls back the curtain on the desperate political pressures of McCarthyism, the complicated bonds of female friendship, and the siren call of the uninhibited Chelsea Hotel.

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REVIEW:THE CHELSEA GIRLS by Fiona Davis is a stand alone, historical, women’s fiction storyline focusing on three women: actress Maxine Mead, struggling actress/playwright/director Hazel Riley, and New York’s iconic Chelsea Hotel, where the who’s who of entertainment and art, party and live.

Told from first person perspective (Maxine Mead) and third person (Hazel Riley), based loosely in fact, THE CHELSEA GIRLS covers approximately twenty-two years in the life of actress Maxine Mead, and struggling actress/playwright/director Hazel Riley. In 1945 Hazel Riley had the opportunity to join the USO tour in Europe where she would meet actress Maxine Mead, and young artist Floyd Jenkins. A tight friendship would develop but the end of the war separated the trio until five years later when Hazel’s play Wartime Sonata, based upon their experiences in Europe, would be picked up by a Broadway producer, bringing Maxine, Floyd and Hazel back together again but all was not well in the United States as Senator Joseph McCarthy started a hunt for Communists in America. Targeting the entertainment industry, creating the HUAC House Un-American Activities Committee in an effort to takedown those believed to be members of, and support the Communist Party, Hazel would soon discover that a wolf in sheep’s clothing was about to destroy everything and more.

The majority of the story line is set in Manhattan, New York and The Chelsea Hotel . Hazel’s play has been commissioned by a Broadway producer, and the arrival of Hollywood starlet Maxine Mead pushes the production onwards and up but opening night is a disaster, and the fall-out finds Hazel facing the HUAC trying to prove she is innocent, and defend the lives of the people she loves.

Fiona Davis blends fact with fiction in a story line sweeping in the grandeur of The Chelsea Hotel-the secrets, the parties, the artists, and the reality of McCarthyism, and the witch hunt for Communists in America. THE CHELSEA GIRLS is character driven, imaginative and wondrous story line that focuses on a period in time where lives were destroyed by accusation and innuendo without proof or evidence to the contrary.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

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The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis-a review

The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 21, 2020

It’s 1913, and on the surface, Laura Lyons couldn’t ask for more out of life–her husband is the superintendent of the New York Public Library, allowing their family to live in an apartment within the grand building, and they are blessed with two children. But headstrong, passionate Laura wants more, and when she takes a leap of faith and applies to the Columbia Journalism School, her world is cracked wide open. As her studies take her all over the city, she finds herself drawn to Greenwich Village’s new bohemia, where she discovers the Heterodoxy Club–a radical, all-female group in which women are encouraged to loudly share their opinions on suffrage, birth control, and women’s rights. Soon, Laura finds herself questioning her traditional role as wife and mother. But when valuable books are stolen back at the library, threatening the home and institution she loves, she’s forced to confront her shifting priorities head on . . . and may just lose everything in the process.

Eighty years later, in 1993, Sadie Donovan struggles with the legacy of her grandmother, the famous essayist Laura Lyons, especially after she’s wrangled her dream job as a curator at the New York Public Library. But the job quickly becomes a nightmare when rare manuscripts, notes, and books for the exhibit Sadie’s running begin disappearing from the library’s famous Berg Collection. Determined to save both the exhibit and her career, the typically risk-adverse Sadie teams up with a private security expert to uncover the culprit. However, things unexpectedly become personal when the investigation leads Sadie to some unwelcome truths about her own family heritage–truths that shed new light on the biggest tragedy in the library’s history.

••••••••

REVIEW:THE LIONS ON FIFTH AVENUE by Fiona Davis is a fictional, historical story line focusing on the Lyons family of New York.

Told from dual third person perspectives using two different time lines THE LIONS ON FIFTH AVENUE follows housewife/mother/ and feminist Laura Lyons in 1913-1914 as she struggles with family, friendships and a direction in life. Having always wanted to be a journalist, Laura enrols at the prestigious Columbia Journalism School where she will discover that life as she knows it is about to change. From exposure to the Heterodoxy Club, the thefts of valuable books from the New York Public Library where she and her family lived, to her husband’s death and her son’s disappearance, Laura will have to face the reality that her world was spiralling out of control.

Fast forward to 1993, wherein we will meet Laura Lyons granddaughter, New York City Library curator Sadie Donovan, a woman whose own life will begin to mimic that of her grandmother’s when a series of manuscripts, notes and books go missing from a rare collection at the public library. With the investigation quickly focusing on Sadie Donovan, Sadie begins to research her family history only to discover that the truth is stranger than fiction.

THE LIONS ON FIFTH AVENUE is a slow building story that bounces between two time lines, one family, and a series of missing and stolen books. We are witness to but a few months in the life of both leading heroines yet Sadie has only skimmed the surface of her grandmother’s tale. THE LIONS OF FIFTH is an impassioned, dramatic and tragic story of one family, two women, and the New York Public Library.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

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