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Title details for The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis - Available

The Magnolia Palace

A Novel

by Fiona Davis
Karissa Vacker
Audiobook
2 of 5 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
2 of 5 copies available
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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 25, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593458082
      • File size: 321328 KB
      • Duration: 11:09:25

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from October 11, 2021
      Davis (The Lions of Fifth Avenue) returns with the captivating story of a missing diamond and the history of New York’s Henry Clay Frick House, before and after it became a museum. Veronica Weber travels from London to New York in 1966, where she works as a model on a photo shoot at the Frick Collection. After a spat with the photographer, Veronica fears she has ruined her chance for a lucrative modeling career. Then she discovers a set of papers in the museum that may provide clues to finding a rare pink diamond owned by Henry Frick, which went missing in 1919, and asks for help from archivist Joshua Lawrence. In a parallel narrative set in that year, Lillian Carter, a once sought-after artists’ model, takes a job as private secretary for Henry’s daughter, Helen, hoping to finance a move to Hollywood to work as an actor. As Veronica and Joshua continue their search for the missing diamond, Davis illuminates Lillian’s role in a long-kept Frick family secret. Davis smoothly combines fact with fiction, and offers beautiful descriptions of the family’s art collection. The colliding narratives and comprehensive descriptions of the historic mansion make for Davis’s best work to date. Agent: Stefanie Lieberman, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.

    • Library Journal

      June 1, 2022

      Best-selling novelist Davis (The Lions of Fifth Avenue) focuses on a Gilded Age mansion in this New York City-based tale. The dual time line story captures historic figures as it follows impoverished model Lillian Carter, loosely based on the real-life artists' model Audrey Munson, in 1919, and Vogue model Veronica Weber in the 1960s, with the Frick mansion as the backdrop. AudioFile Earphones Award--winning narrator and classically trained actor Karissa Vacker captures the essence of characters in both timelines, bringing a compelling narration to this story of secrets, betrayal, stolen jewels, and murder. VERDICT Readers of historical fiction and lovers of art history and the architecture of New York City will enjoy this entertaining audiobook. Suggest to fans of Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray, Kate Quinn, and Liz Trenow.--Denise Garofalo

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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