The Masterpiece

May 15, 2018

Two independent women, living 50 years apart, find themselves working at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. In 1928, the station is home to the Grand Central School of Art, where Clara Darden is the lone female teacher. As a woman artist, Clara struggles against the sexism of the day but finds success as a fashion illustrator for Vogue and an interior designer for Studebaker. As the Depression hits, the art school closes, jobs for artists dry up, and Clara is torn between a quiet poet and a passionate painter. Meanwhile, in 1974, Virginia Clay, a recent divorcée and breast cancer survivor, is forced to find work for the first time in her life. Taking a position at the information booth at the now rundown terminal, she is falling in love with the historic building. When it's marked for demolition and redevelopment, a mysterious painting found in an abandoned studio links the two women. VERDICT Davis (The Dollhouse; The Address) has written another paean to a New York City landmark. Historical fiction fans will love the compelling dual narrators and time periods perfectly captured in this novel based on the history of one of the busiest transportation hubs in the world. [See Prepub Alert, 2/19/18.]--Catherine Coyne, Mansfield P.L., MA

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2018
New York's Grand Central Terminal is more than just an architectural masterpiece or historic landmark for aspiring artist Clara Darden and newly divorced mother Virginia Clay. It's a platform for new beginnings at a time when each woman needs one most.Davis (The Address, 2017, etc.) has carved out a literary niche by giving readers a peek into the private lives of those who live and work in New York's most intriguing buildings, such as the Barbizon Hotel and the Dakota. In her third novel, she lets us into the world of two women employed at Grand Central during different eras. Twenty-five-year-old Clara arrives in New York in 1927 with great talent and even more ambition. Though she enjoys teaching at the art school tucked away in the train station, her true desire is to illustrate covers for Vogue. As she chases her dream, Clara juggles the attention of two suitors vying for her affection. The love that blossoms most, though, is her passion for art. Soon her life is derailed by tragedy. The circumstances around Clara's disappearance remain a mystery until 1974, when Virginia, the now-dilapidated Grand Central Terminal's newest information-desk clerk, starts exploring the long boarded-up art school. Like the train station, Virginia has seen better days. Her own story as a breast cancer survivor who's been dumped by her rich husband closely parallels that of Grand Central Terminal, which is in danger of being shuttered in the name of progress. Virginia's Mata Hari spy work and her college-age daughter's photography skills play a key role in saving the station--and themselves.At times, the art-history lesson towers over the story, resulting in less tension and lower stakes than in Davis' earlier novels. Still, with richly drawn characters living in two storied eras, there is much to be enchanted by.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 25, 2018
Davis’s splendid third novel (following The Dollhouse and The Address) takes readers back in time to the New York of the 1970s and the late ’20s, centering on Grand Central Station. In 1928 New York City, illustrator and artist Clara Darden teaches at the Grand Central School of Art. Confident and brash, Clara scrapes by until she secures employment drawing illustrations for Vogue. Clara’s romantic involvement with budding poet Oliver Smith changes her life as they enjoy the parties of New York’s elite and she gains notoriety for her art. Her life takes a turn, however, as her friendship with mercurial artist Levon Zakarian threatens her relationship with Oliver, and the stock market crash of 1929 devastates the country. Fast-forward to 1974 when divorcee Virginia Clay gets a job at Grand Central’s information booth. While exploring the abandoned art school, Virginia finds a painting by Clara Darden that looks very similar to a painting she had seen in an auction catalogue, leading her to believe that Clara may be the artist known as Clyde, whose valuable painting will soon be auctioned by Sotheby’s. Virginia searches for the artist who painted the Clyde as she seeks to unravel the circumstances behind Clara’s disappearance in 1931. Davis entices with a fast-paced mystery and expertly reveals parallels between the two periods in New York and between Clara and Virginia, resulting in a true crowd-pleaser.

June 1, 2018
As she did with the Barbizon Hotel in The Dollhouse (2016) and the Dakota in The Address (2017), Davis uses an iconic NYC building as the backdrop for the story of two women whose lives intersect across time. Here, the building is Grand Central Terminal. The terminal once housed the Grand Central School of Art (founded by John Singer Sargent, among others), and Clara Darden is an instructor there in 1928. She finds success as an illustrator, but her hopes to make a mark as a truly modern artist are thwarted by the Depression. In the 1970s, Virginia Clay, struggling after a recent divorce, lands a job at the information booth of the no-longer-so-grand terminal, which is threatened with demolition. She stumbles across the now-shuttered art school and discovers a mysterious watercolor, which starts her on a quest to identify the artist. She also helps to save the terminal from the wrecking ball. Davis is a maximalist when it comes to plot elements, and not everything convinces, but the use she makes of New York history is always interesting.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from May 15, 2018

Two independent women, living 50 years apart, find themselves working at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. In 1928, the station is home to the Grand Central School of Art, where Clara Darden is the lone female teacher. As a woman artist, Clara struggles against the sexism of the day but finds success as a fashion illustrator for Vogue and an interior designer for Studebaker. As the Depression hits, the art school closes, jobs for artists dry up, and Clara is torn between a quiet poet and a passionate painter. Meanwhile, in 1974, Virginia Clay, a recent divorc�e and breast cancer survivor, is forced to find work for the first time in her life. Taking a position at the information booth at the now rundown terminal, she is falling in love with the historic building. When it's marked for demolition and redevelopment, a mysterious painting found in an abandoned studio links the two women. VERDICT Davis (The Dollhouse; The Address) has written another paean to a New York City landmark. Historical fiction fans will love the compelling dual narrators and time periods perfectly captured in this novel based on the history of one of the busiest transportation hubs in the world. [See Prepub Alert, 2/19/18.]--Catherine Coyne, Mansfield P.L., MA

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.