Magnolia Palace, The: A Novel

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She wished more than anything to be able to once again witness the infinite ways her mother used to drive her batty: the tinny laugh, the way she hummed under her breath as she dried the dishes. It is forbidden to copy anything for publication elsewhere without written permission from the copyright holder.

The parallel story line in The Magnolia Palace is from Veronica's perspective and is fifty years later.I listened to the audiobook of The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis that was pleasantly narrated by Karissa Vacker. Two windows looked out on the dreary courtyard in the back, the black metal of the fire escape glinting in the late-summer sun. Watching her mother unravel over the course of her illness, from a force to be reckoned with to a frail, childlike creature, clutching at Lillian's wrist and whimpering in pain, had been her undoing.

But alternating between the two women's narratives creates a delicious tension that kept me turning the pages.I got so curious about the locale that I watched a couple of YouTube videos detailing the Frick Collection.

The Magnolia Palace has a 1919 timeline where a young model begins to work as a private secretary for Helen Frick, and a timeline in 1966 when another model is working at The Frick Museum and she gets stuck inside during a storm. Fastforward to 1966 with the now Frick Museum allowing a photo shoot with a bevy of models to take place within its walls. Before they'd started, the sculptor and Kitty had talked about how important the memorial was, commemorating the wealthy couple who had died together on the Titanic after the wife gave up her seat in the lifeboat to her maid, choosing instead to die with her husband. Veronica had stumbled upon the clues as she was fumbling her way around in the dark, slipped, and saw pages sticking out of organ pipes.She first came to New York as an actress, but fell in love with writing after getting a master's degree at Columbia Journalism School. The blending of the two time lines and the intriguing story line is signature Fiona Davis as she again gives us another wonderful history lesson. Once she is listed as a person of interest in the murder of her landlord’s wife, she goes on the lam, and inadvertently finds herself interviewing for a position as the personal secretary to Helen Frick.