Fiona Davis uses NYC landmark buildings as settings for her novels. For this one, she uses the Frick Museum - the former home of Henry Clay Frick and Adelaide Childs Frick. Henry Frick made a fortune as a bigwig in early steel company, in Pittsburgh. He amassed great art, and upon his death, he donated his NYC home and art to become an art museum.
This book jumps back and forth between 1919 and 1966. To be clear, we didn't like the back & forth on this one. We lost track of some characters (there were a lot)
- In 1919, we learn about Lillian Carter, a sculptor's model (muse) who poses in the nude. Note the difference between nude (art) and naked (considered lewd). Lillian, known in the public as just "Angelica," poses for the world's top sculptors, and her image adorns elite NYC buildings, and statues are made for private collections.
- In 1966, we hear about Veronica, a model for photography (also not a common path for a woman in the mid 1960s). Her brush with the Frick Museum is the setting for part of this novel.
A lot of this book is *not* a page turner, though it had its moments. I listened to the audio version, but had I been reading it in print, I may have stopped. Although a story based loosely on the world's first "supermodel" (Audrey Munson, 1891-1996) is, in itself, a valid view into the experience of "The Woman behind the Statue/sculpture," the plot line fluctuated in holding our attention. We thought there was too much fluff (padding). Still, the true story of Audrey Munson (1910 to abt 1920) is important. When we see statuary, we rarely (if ever) think about the actual woman who posed. Munson's likeness is all over NYC, as well as on the statehouses for Wisconsin and South Carolina. She's even on the 1916 Walking Liberty Half-Dollar(!).
At Frick dot org (frick.org ), you can find a 3 minute summary of Audrey Munson's life -- their series is called, What's Her Story? Women's stories are forgotten, erased, way too often.
Here's a link to The Frick's piece:
https://youtu.be/avMBNkIvqqg?si=tUJ3XhvZioTh33LI
What I love about Fiona Davis' books is how she includes an "Author's Note" at the end that summarizes how much of the novel is true. She also gives credit to those who wrote before her, (she says, "for further reading"...). I listened to the Author's Note twice. That's how much I appreciate how she shares the limelight with those whose work she consulted, and the truth of the story/characters in the book.
Out of 5 stars, we give this 3 and half. The narrative needed to be tighter (minus 100 pages?), plus the back & forth needed to be handled better.
That said, the author's prose is fresh, her analogies really good.
