Author Fiona Davis has built her books around some of New York City’s most iconic landmarks — the New York Public Library (“The Lions of Fifth Avenue”), the Chelsea Hotel (“The Chelsea Girls”), and Grand Central Terminal (“The Masterpiece”).
In her latest novel “The Magnolia Palace,” Davis turns her attention to the Frick, the Gilded Age mansion-turned-museum on Fifth Avenue where industrialist and art patron Henry Clay Frick once lived.
“The Magnolia Palace” is a historical thriller about two intriguing heroines. In 1919, Lillian Carter is a sought-after artist’s model who’s wanted as a person of interest in a murder investigation. Hoping to hide from the police, she takes a job as private secretary to the imperious yet eccentric Helen Frick.
Fiona Davis. Photo: Deborah FeingoldIn a parallel narrative that takes place nearly 50 years later, mod English model Veronica Weber is working a photo shoot at the former Frick residence when she discovers a set of papers that may provide clues to a missing pink diamond.
“It’s really fun to dive into these old buildings and try to bring them to life and remind people what the history was,” Davis told the Greenville Journal.
Lillian is based on the real-life artist’s model Audrey Munson, who posed for the stone pediment above the entrance to the Frick mansion and whose visage can still be found on more than a dozen statues throughout New York City today.
“She was this celebrated artist’s model from the early 1900s who was caught up in a scandal and led this hugely outrageous life, and she’s really been forgotten to history,” Davis said. “On top of all that, Henry Clay Frick had a daughter named Helen Frick who was this very eccentric, interesting, prickly woman. And again, she did so much. She was a larger than life personality, but she was overshadowed at this time by her father.”
As with her previous five novels, Davis did extensive research before sitting down to write “The Magnolia Palace.” She took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Frick mansion, including the basement, where she found a still-functioning bowling alley first built in 1914. She also interviewed architectural historians and pored over numerous biographies, even reading books on how to become a private secretary in 1910.
To that end, Davis said the digital archives at The Frick Collection helped enormously.
“I could get as specific as what was on the dinner menu for a dinner party that they held in 1915,” she said. “In that way it really feels like you’re bringing the building to life.”
“The Magnolia Palace” (Dutton – Penguin Books USA) released Jan. 25.
