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 THOUGHTS
My first read by this author.
This book is a historical that has some intense things going on. Models, artist. Murder...
Fiona Davis weaved a story that will keep you reading. When Lillian goes on the run after being accused of helping her landlord kill his wife, her life is never the same. Then she gets a job where something else causes her to run. What if anything will she do. How is she going to survive it all. Lillian is a very resilient woman. Her mother taught her what to do in life to possibly get ahead. Or be known. This was in 1919..
Jump ahead now to 1966.. We meet Veronica. An aspiring model who was found quite by accident. After a horrendous haircut it seems people notice her for her life takes a turn for the "better.". But when on a photo shoot in the Frick mansion/museum things go horribly wrong. That is when things really get interesting,
This book is well written and will hold your interest. There is a lot going on and two timelines. Two women who's life intersect and some thrills too along the way. Well written and the descriptions make you feel you are there, in both timelines.
Thank you #NetGalley, #FionaDavis, #PenguinGroupDutton for this ARC. This is my own true feelings about this book.
4/5 stars and I recommend it.
No comments:
Post a Comment