Inside the apartment, the soup roiling in her gut, she filled a glass with water and sat down at the tiny table in the kitchen. An historical fiction book based on fact and centred around the Frick Mansion/Museum, one of my favourite museums in New York. The magic of Fiona Davis is the tenderness with which she crafts her settings, so that they bloom into characters themselves. I found it hard to follow the story, which was nothing special and couldn't connect to anyone in this novel.

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.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. While the statues are praised, the beautiful Lillian is judged negatively, as the model who poses partially nude to create them. If Kitty were here, they'd all be laughing together, her mother flattering him about his thick mustache and strong hands, teasing him as he blushed.

Both of the young female main characters are models with unstable financial situations, without anyone to depend on other than themselves. I appreciated Davis’s spotlight on the two women, on how difficult it is for women to survive in New York.She chances upon a series of hidden messages that will lead her on a hunt that could finally reveal the truth behind a decades-old murder in the infamous Frick family. Lillian escaped out the fire escape when the police arrived, slept on a bench in Central Park for the night, and accidentally was drawn into the Frick Mansion for a job she hadn't applied for but got hired. It's certainly a part of the story but not on the same level as say, the New York Public Library was in her previous book. Would they be able to unravel the truth to what really happened at the Frick mansion all those years ago? Lillian thinks this job will just be temporary (so there's no harm in concealing her real identity) as she is just trying to get enough money to head out to California to pursue her dream of acting; however, things get super complicated.

We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. She was lucky to have this job, she reminded herself, only her second since February, a lifetime in the New York art world. At one point, Angelica had been a much sought after artist’s model but work had seemed to have dried up recently. That said, The Magnolia Palace has some fascinating elements but while the final portion of the book is a page turner, the rest of the book has a real pacing problem. Set in the early 1900's and 1960's it encapsulates those periods beautifully and all set against a New York city backdrop.Another policeman stepped to the door to shut it, but not before Lillian caught sight of a woman's bloody hand, the fingers gently, almost daintily, curled in. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. A galley kitchen served as the entryway, the table and chairs tucked in an alcove to one side, and the living area wasn't much larger.