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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