Goodreads Blurb

After a failed apprenticeship, working her way up to head housekeeper of a posh London hotel is more than Sara Smythe ever thought she’d make of herself. But when a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand New York apartment house The Dakota, leads to a job offer, her world is suddenly awash in possibility—no mean feat for a servant in 1884. The opportunity to move to America, where a person can rise above one’s station. The opportunity to be the female manager of The Dakota, which promises to be the greatest apartment house in the world. And the opportunity to see more of Theo, who understands Sara like no one else…and is living in The Dakota with his wife and three young children.

My Review: Rated 3 out of 5 stars

This novel takes the reader to a front-row seat of family drama. I loved the history mentioned in this historical fiction novel. The story occurs at the iconic New York apartment house called the Dakota. I love visiting mansions and learning about the architecture and the people that lived there. This book details how the house was built, and most of the story takes place in 1885, when the building had just opened. The other part of this story that intrigued me was learning more about the insane asylum at Blackwell’s Island, where Nellie Bly, a journalist, stayed for ten days. She published an article on how brutal the asylum was and how many of the women there didn’t have any mental issues.

The story was slow halfway through the start of the book. When Sara Smythe started to feel ill and forgetful, I became interested in the novel. The author did a great job creating Sara’s character, but the other main characters needed to be explained in more detail to strengthen the story. The story takes place in 1884, Sara’s story, and then it goes to 1985, where you learn about Bailey Camden. This novel teaches the reader to be careful of who you trust. There was a lot of deceit between the characters. Sara had the worst time in NYC because she was too trustworthy of people. I felt terrible that poor Sara had to go through terrible moments in her life by paying for the blame of others. Bailey’s story digs into the past. She wants to learn more about her family and Sara Smythe, the murderess of the Architecture Theodore Camden. Family sometimes hide secrets to keep their reputation intact.

Author Biography

Fiona Davis is the New York Times bestselling author of seven historical fiction novels set in iconic New York City buildings, including The Spectacular, The Magnolia Palace, The Address, and The Lions of Fifth Avenue, which was a Good Morning America book club pick. Her novels have been chosen as “One Book, One Community” reads and her articles have appeared in publications like The Wall Street Journal and O the Oprah magazine.

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. Her books have been translated into over twenty languages and she’s based in New York City.