The Spectacular by Fiona Davis! Join us Wednesday, August 2nd at 8pm ET on Zoom.
I had the opportunity to meet Fiona at her very first book talk for The Dollhouse back in August 2016 at the Westport Library here in CT. Since then, she has written The Address, The Masterpiece, The Chelsea Girls, The Magnolia Palace, The Lions of Fifth Avenue and her latest, The Spectacular. Each book centers around a building in NYC so not only can we get immersed in the lives of her characters, but we learn a little New York history! Fiona Davis joined Book Nation Book Club Readers five years ago to discuss The Masterpiece where we dove in and discussed art and Grand Central Terminal, and I am thrilled to welcome Fiona back to the Book Nation Book Club this summer to talk about The Spectacular, Radio City Music Hall and the Rockettes!
Book: The Spectacular
When: Wednesday, August 2nd, 8pm ET
Where: Zoom (link to be emailed the day before the event)
Special Guest: Fiona Davis
Host and Moderator: Jennifer Blankfein
Facilitator: Luisa Tanno
How to Join: Email jen@booknationbookclub.com today to request the link and contribute questions for the author. Link will be provided the day before and the day of the event.
Summary:
From the New York Times Bestselling Author of The Magnolia Palace: A thrilling story about love, sacrifice, and the pursuit of dreams, set amidst the glamour and glitz of Radio City Music Hall in its mid-century heyday.
New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion Brooks knows she should be happy. Her high school sweetheart is about to propose and sweep her off to the life everyone has always expected they’d have together: a quiet house in the suburbs, Marion staying home to raise their future children. But instead, Marion finds herself feeling trapped. So when she comes across an opportunity to audition for the famous Radio City Rockettes—the glamorous precision-dancing troupe—she jumps at the chance to exchange her predictable future for the dazzling life of a performer.
Meanwhile, the city is reeling from a string of bombings orchestrated by a person the press has nicknamed the “Big Apple Bomber,” who has been terrorizing the citizens of New York for sixteen years by planting bombs in popular, crowded spaces. With the public in an uproar over the lack of any real leads after a yearslong manhunt, the police turn in desperation to Peter Griggs, a young doctor at a local mental hospital who espouses a radical new technique: psychological profiling.
As both Marion and Peter find themselves unexpectedly pulled in to the police search for the bomber, Marion realizes that as much as she’s been training herself to blend in—performing in perfect unison with all the other identical Rockettes—if she hopes to catch the bomber, she’ll need to stand out and take a terrifying risk. In doing so, she may be forced to sacrifice everything she’s worked for, as well as the people she loves the most.
About Fiona Davis:
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 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.
Links to more about Fiona and her books!
