Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
No matter what different genres I digress to, no question, my favorite always ends up being historical fiction... a culmination of historical era, places and people emerged in a fictionalized story....
This was my first Fiona Davis book and I immediately fell in love with the premise of what appears to be all her stories where she takes a real place in NYC of a bygone era with characters from that time to create her stories around... what a great way to learn history!
This story is about the Frick family and their mansion which after Henry Fricks death was converted to an art museum... our main character is Lillian Carter based on the real life character of the time Audrey Munson, the sculptor super model of the 1910s who posed nudes for the artists of nyc and who's 'likeness' statues are seen all around city landmarks... at the outset of the story her landlord, obsessed with her, kills his wife ( true Audrey story) and Lillian has to flee before she's implicated in the saga and finds herself in front of the Frick mansion admiring her 'likeness' statue over their doorway, when she's mistaken for an applicant to become Helen Frick's personal secretary.... needless to say, she gets the job and serves the family for a few months before Mr. Frick's suspicious death.
Alot of the Frick family info, characters and turn of events/ drama seems to be based on reality, which is fascinating- except of course the suggestion that Audrey ever worked for the Fricks ( which is fictionalized). The ending for Lillian is much nicer written then Audrey's real life story, which I appreciated.
In the process you learn a ton about art and artists of the era and I found myself constantly googling these art pieces. This book very much reminded me of the 'Personal Librarian' by Marie Benedict and the 'Collector's Apprentice' by B.A. Shapiro.... both of which were great 'Art' based historical fictions.
I highly recommend the audiobook, which was amazingly narrated by Karissa Vacker. Very enjoyable.
This was my first Fiona Davis book and I immediately fell in love with the premise of what appears to be all her stories where she takes a real place in NYC of a bygone era with characters from that time to create her stories around... what a great way to learn history!
This story is about the Frick family and their mansion which after Henry Fricks death was converted to an art museum... our main character is Lillian Carter based on the real life character of the time Audrey Munson, the sculptor super model of the 1910s who posed nudes for the artists of nyc and who's 'likeness' statues are seen all around city landmarks... at the outset of the story her landlord, obsessed with her, kills his wife ( true Audrey story) and Lillian has to flee before she's implicated in the saga and finds herself in front of the Frick mansion admiring her 'likeness' statue over their doorway, when she's mistaken for an applicant to become Helen Frick's personal secretary.... needless to say, she gets the job and serves the family for a few months before Mr. Frick's suspicious death.
Alot of the Frick family info, characters and turn of events/ drama seems to be based on reality, which is fascinating- except of course the suggestion that Audrey ever worked for the Fricks ( which is fictionalized). The ending for Lillian is much nicer written then Audrey's real life story, which I appreciated.
In the process you learn a ton about art and artists of the era and I found myself constantly googling these art pieces. This book very much reminded me of the 'Personal Librarian' by Marie Benedict and the 'Collector's Apprentice' by B.A. Shapiro.... both of which were great 'Art' based historical fictions.
I highly recommend the audiobook, which was amazingly narrated by Karissa Vacker. Very enjoyable.
I really enjoyed this read. I agree with others that the ending was wrapped up a bit TOO succinctly, but I enjoyed both the mystery and history/art aspect. Hoping to talk my husband into watching some Cocktails with a Curator at Frick.org :)
I enjoyed this book, however I find it very unlikely that all of the scavenger hunt clues would have remained in place. Very similar to the problem I had with the end of the Lions of 5th Avenue book.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
2.5 - The history of the Fricks and the collection was interesting; the fictional story was less so.
A combination of historical fiction, mystery, romance - a little bit of everything while juxtaposing the life of the very rich and those not so very.
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved Davis’s other books, but this one was slightly less interesting. I’ve been to the Frick Museum, which is wonderful and a must see if you’re in NYC. This book had so many components that the actual story was lost. The ending felt forced and too “feel good”, but unrealistic. Davis’s writing has improved since this one was released.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Classism
Wonderfully written book. I enjoyed the history lessons, the story, and the characters.
This was a really interesting story, even more interesting to learn that it’s based on a number of real events and people.