The Address by Fiona Davis immersed me in the Gilded Age world of New York City and I loved every minute. I must admit that I was not familiar with the Dakota building or its rich history prior to reading The Address. The Address develops in two story lines, one of Sara Smythe, the managerette of the Dakota as it opens in in the 1880s and Bailey Camden, a struggling interior designer recently out of rehab, who begins remodeling an apartment in the Dakota over 100 years after it was built.

I felt both stories were compelling, but being a fan of historical fiction, I found myself drawn into Sara's time. Without providing spoilers, I felt that the novel was well researched and had several unexpected twists and turns. After reading the book, I wanted to learn more about the Dakota and see pictures of it in present day. I also found myself thinking about the characters long after I had finished reading the book. The Address is the first novel I have read by Fiona Davis and I will definitely be picking up her previous work The Dollhouse soon.

Fans of historical fiction should add this book to their 'to read' list and prepare to enjoy a visit to the Gilded Age and New York City at its richest and best.

I received this book courtesy of Dutton Books, Penguin Group through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

An opportunity, a move to America, and a new job. Not just any job, but a job working in The Dakota, a top of the line apartment building, built on the outskirts of New York City. The newly built Dakota was home to many wealthy families, in the infancy of the city. Becoming close to the residents had its benefits, as well as costs. What happened then, in the 1880s, is revisited as the story unfolds and intermingles with the more present-day 1980s. As the current story unfolds, we learn how it is connected to the past. What will become of The Dakota? Will it remain in the family? Will it be modernized to keep up with the times? A quick, enjoyable read, with characters so real you feel you may have met them on the street.

I was drawn to this book by the setting (The Dakota) and the genre (historical fiction). Though you will be able to see some of the plot points from all the way across Central Park, the author has enough twists and turns to make it a satisfying read overall. It tells the intertwined stories of Sara Smythe, on staff at The Dakota when it opened in 1885, and Bailey Camden, a down on her luck decorator working at The Dakota after being released from rehab in the go-go 1980's - one hundred years after The Dakota first opened.

Can you imagine a time when wealthy New Yorkers would consider it unthinkable to live in an apartment building? Back in the 1880s, though, that was the case. The Dakota, which we have for so many years considered the epitome of exclusive New York living, was a revolutionary and daring step for an architect to try to tempt wealthy New Yorkers to adopt as home.

This dual-narrative novel focuses on two female characters. In the 1880s story, Sara Smythe, head housekeeper at an English luxury hotel, comes to the attention of architect Theo Camden, who recruits her to The Dakota. Despite Theo’s being married, a relationship develops between them and tragedy results.

A century later, Bailey Camden has just gotten out of a drug rehab program and finds it tough to pick up interior design work. She is forced to accept a job from her cousin, a complete vacuum brain, who wants to transform her traditional apartment into a plastic and primary-colored nightmare. As Bailey renovates, she discovers old trunks that reveal secrets from the pasts of Theo, Sara and other family members. These secrets will connect Bailey to that past.

I have mixed feelings about the book. As a general rule, I like dual narratives, separated by time but with a shared link. In this case, though, I thought the overly busy plot unsuccessfully hid the two-dimensional characterization and pedestrian writing style.

What I did really like, though, was all the detail about The Dakota itself. I’ve always been fascinated by the building and its history, and reading more about it in this book was a treat.

I loved this book! The characters were interesting and the plot very intriguing. The story switches back and forth from the 1880's to the 1980's. This really adds to the intrigue of the book, as you piece together what has happened. I enjoyed the historical setting and learning about The Dakota. A mystery that I needed to finish to find out what happened!

FTC Disclosure: I received an eARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I checked out the audiobook from my library through Overdrive.

Fellow readers, I am sorry that "next week" turned into many, many weeks. I did read "The Address," but was traveling and then moving and then starting a new job, and blogging clearly fell to the wayside. But things have settled down and I can collect my thoughts.

Last time I blogged, I wrote about how much I enjoyed Fiona Davis's "The Dollhouse." While "The Address" doesn't quite live up to the promise of "The Dollhouse," I still found it an enjoyable read while traveling. In the 1980's, Bailey just got out of rehab and is hoping to relaunch her interior design career by redecorating her cousin's apartment in The Dakota. In the 1880's, Sara has moved from Britain to New York City to work in the newly built Dakota, where she has to navigate her relationship with her boss and the building's wealthy, demanding residents. Their stories intertwine across history, mysteries ensue.

As I noted on Goodreads, some of the side characters lacked depth and felt like plot devices. The story also took a few weird turns. I didn't think there was enough groundwork laid for some of the twists. Nevertheless, I found both Bailey and Sara to be intriguing protagonists, even if the ultimate answer to the mystery was fairly apparent from the start.

Verdict: Jury's Out. If you like historical fiction, specifically mysteries bouncing between time periods, this novel will scratch that itch. If you need some more depth to your characters and plot, though, look elsewhere.

"The Address" by Fiona Davis, published August 1, 2017 by Dutton Books.

Goodreads review:
Took some weird turns, and a couple characters lacked depth, but an enjoyable mystery overall. (FTC disclosure- I received an eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review, forthcoming on my blog.)

Mesmerizing story of The Dakota on two levels. I could not put it down!

Fiona Davis has now become one of my new favourite historical fiction writers!!
The story is told alternately between Sara and Bailey, two women, separated by 100 years, but living in the same infamous New York building, The Dakota.
Switching between two different time periods, 1985 and 1884 alternating past and present.
1880's Sara Smythe wants to make a better life for herself so when an American offers her a job she makes the leap of faith and travels from London to America to help run a prestigious place, The Dakota, for wealthy families.
1985 Bailey Camden, a recovering alcoholic and former interior designer is helping her cousin upgrade the rundown Dakota. While there, Bailey finds three mysterious, antique trunks full of secrets that could change her life forever.
Weaving together their stories, presenting a surprising mystery that ultimately connects the two women this book has lots of interesting historical detail that was clearly well-researched and that brought both the two eras and the characters to life.
The Address is an intriguing story of love and sacrifice, but also greed and betrayal, it is a wonderful atmospheric read that I would recommend for fans of historical fiction and Kate Morton.
Highly recommended 5 star book.

The Address by Fiona Davis
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 5/5 stars
My Review:

Y’all know how much I love a good past meets present/past influences present story and Fiona Davis’s The Address certainly delivered!!

The Address focuses on the lives of two very different women, Sara Smythe and Baily Camden, separated by a century, but connected through love, devotion, tragedy, and location.

Bailey Camden needs an outlet because going back to the drugs and alcohol just isn’t an option. With the help of her selfish and self-absorbed cousin, Bailey moves into the famed Dakota and begins a major remodeling project in her cousin’s apartment. Though her cousin’s apartment is going to be a garish example of design (not Bailey’s choice!) the rest of the building has such potential, such good bones, and a few older residents who remember the original days of the site. As Bailey gets deeper into the project, she also becomes far more interested in the history of the site and the people who originally brought the old girl to life. What she finds is as fascinating as it is disturbing and some of the information hits startlingly close to home.

A century before . . . .

When Sarah Smythe moved to the United States, she never imagined how high she would rise. Though her father was an English peer, Sarah is illegitimate which severely limited her future prospects. In a totally random twist of fate, Sarah meets Theodore Camden, the man who will bring her to America, put her in charge of the Dakota, and be the cause of her greatest love and greatest sorrow. From the beginning, Sarah embraces her role at the Dakota and hopes to see it become a New York landmark. As she becomes more intimately involved with Theodore Camden (note: he is married with a family!) Sarah begins to share his vision for not just the Dakota, but for architecture throughout the city. The two feed off one another intellectually and emotionally which makes for an excellent professional relationship and a quite messy personal relationship.

A century later . . . . .

With only a few solid and substantial clues and the verbal accounts of a few long-time Dakota residents, Bailey begins to piece together the horrifying story of Sarah Smythe and Theodore Camden. What she discovers is a passionate love mixed with betrayal, abuse, false accusations, yet another illegitimate child, and, eventually murder. What’s more, Bailey’s discoveries provide her a lifeline, a tangible reason to stay sober, and the prospect of a life with a caring man in a home she has come to adore. Proving her story and vindicating a woman from a century past isn’t going to be easy, but Bailey proves she is more than up for the challenge. The end results are so much more than Bailey could have ever asked and/or hoped for.

The Bottom Line: This is another one of those books with a star rating I just can’t understand. The Address is a fantastic historical fiction I can’t believe I left on my TBR list for so long! Not only is The Address an historical fiction (a favored genre!) but it also pulled me in with the alternating past and present chapters. I so love these types of books, especially when the author is particularly adept at weaving the two together into a coherent narrative. Though it doesn’t initially seem so, Bailey and Sarah are intimately tied to one another and as the story unfolds – in the same place it all began! – the connection between the two women becomes blatantly obvious. While I enjoyed Bailey’s chapters and her story, I much preferred Sarah’s chapters and the rich descriptions of the Dakota and Sarah’s life (good and bad) during the early years of the site. I’m adding The Address to my favorites reads of the year list and highly recommend it to anyone who loves historical fiction as much as I do!

I don’t know why but I had been postponing for a couple of months, even though it looked interesting and just my kind of historical read. What I loved the most about this book was the context and the location: The Dakota building in New York. I learned a lot about its history and I wish I could have seen what it looked like back then (in person, I already spent too much time checking out pictures yesterday haha).

This time I don’t have any complaints about the importance of one storyline over the other. Although, of course, the past is always more appealing to me, I also wanted to know what would happen to Bailey, who I really liked despite her flaws. The mystery was interesting although slightly predictable, but there was something unexpected that I’m sure felt super satisfying for everyone.

All in all, this was a good and atmospheric read that I would recommend for fans of historical fiction and Kate Morton-esque books. It didn’t amaze me, but I’d read another book by the autor without a doubt.

This is the first book by Fiona Davis that I have ever read. I hope to read mini more .

Fiona Davis crafts an intriguing juxtaposition of timelines in her new novel, The Address, I was completely drawn in to the world of the two women, separated by 100 years, but living in the same infamous New York building, The Dakota. I rooted for them, wept, and rejoiced with each turn of the page. My only complaint was the ending. I wanted a stronger, more drawn out conclusion. Yes, it completed the book, but I would have liked to see a little more into Bailey's and Sara's ultimate ends.

I was so surprised by this story. I smugly believed I had figured out the story within the first couple of chapters. I was wrong. A great story about human relationships and sacrifices in 1884 that sends ripples into 1985. Books that lead me to other books are always a bonus. Fiona Davis' wonderful tale led me to also read non-fiction titles on the Dakota as the building is as much of a character as Sara Smythe or Theodore Camden.

This book is divided into two sections: the opening of the Dakota Apartments on NYC's West Side in 1885 and the lives of some residents of that building in 1985.

Theodore Camden was one of the architects on the Dakota. The grand building was located opposite Central Park in a part of NYC that was still rural. He met Sara Smyth working at a hotel in London and offer her a job in the soon to be opened Dakota . Soon after she arrived in NYC and began working as a manager at the Dakota, Sara became Camden's mistress. Her involvement with the man changed her course of life. Even though Camden and his family lived at The Dakota, he maintained the relationship and exposed Sara to the high society life in NYC.

A hundred years later, Bailey Camden, a descendent of a man who was raised by Theodore Camden's family, finds herself living in the original Camden apartment in the Dakota. She was a party girl and former interior decorator who had just returned from a stay in a rehab facility. Now she is out of work and accepts a job decorating the apartment of her wealthy Camden cousin.

Sara found herself caught up in the social whirl of the Gilded Age in NYC and now Bailey is involved in the drug and alcohol fueled social life in NYC in the 1980s.

Bailey finds several old trunks placed in the Dakota storage areas by the first Camden residents. Inside those trunks are several items that will change the lives of Bailey and her Camden cousins forever.

The author includes many historical references in this tale of the most famous apartment building in NYC. She does a great job of showing what life was like for the residents of the Dakota as well as the numerous servants who job it is to make the residents comfortable.

Never got to read this book, will probably get it from my Library. Book does look interesting.

After reading her second novel, Fiona Davis has become one of my new favorite historical fiction writers. In The Address, Davis expertly weaves two women's lives and the history of a landmark residence, The Dakota, in New York City. The lives of two women from the 1880s and the 1980s are woven together as the mystery behind The Dakota unfolds. The Address begins in 1985 when Bailey Camden, heir without genetic proof to The Dakota's architect, is released from rehab and reenters the world, ready to make something of herself. The famed residential hotel, The Dakota, has fallen into disrepair, and Bailey, who is trying to reestablish herself as an interior designer, wants to learn more about the history behind the building. The narrative weaves in and out of Bailey Camden's discovery of the history of The Dakota while exploring Sara Smythe's connection with the residence.

For me, Sara Smythe's part of the story was the most interesting. I have a soft spot for stories about women who rise from the bottom to become more than they ever dreamed of becoming. Sara, when we first meet her, is a hotel manager in England who saves the life of an architect's daughter. Theodore Camden, the architect, offers her a position at the residential hotel he has built in New York City. The attraction between Sara and Theodore is immediate right from the start, and that relationship develops over the course of the novel. The twists and turns at the end of her story were a little unexpected and thrilled me. It's revealed at the beginning of the novel that Sara stabbed Theodore, but the true thrill are all of those little events that lead up to that event. However, I felt like Bailey's desire for a fresh start and her refusal to compromise herself tied the lives of both women and tied the story together, because no matter the hundred years between them and no matter the different social structures, both women faced similar struggles and strove to overcome them.

Overall, this is an enjoyable historical fiction novel. For the first third of it, I felt like the story was weighed down by the amount of research and detail in the set up, but that detail redeems itself when the story does pick up and become difficult to put down. I've already hand-sold this and her previous novel, The Dollhouse, to some of my customers looking for new historical fiction recommendations, so if you enjoy fiction about women who overcome their struggles and enjoy historical fiction set in New York City, The Address comes highly recommended!

Author Fiona Davis has taken a real place, the storied Dakota Apartment building in Manhattan, and crafted a work of historical fiction around it. The novel features two historical eras that the author entertwines more and more as the novel reaches its conclusion. The first storyline is set in the year 1885 when the building was constructed, and tells the story of a young married architect, who was found murdered in the building, and his mistress, Englishwoman Sara Smythe, who has come over to manage the new apartment building. The second storyline is set in 1985. Interior designer, Bailey Camden, poor relation of the architect's descendants, is given a second chance when the architect's granddaughter hires her to renovate her Dakota apartment. Bailey has just been released from rehab and struggles with drug and alcohol addiction. She develops an interest in finding out what did happen black in 1885. The novel kept my attention, and was an enjoyable if not very historically accurate read, even though I found the ending--especially of the 1885 storyline--fairly improbable. Thank you Dutton and NetGalley for the ARC of this title and for allowing me to review this book.

Have you ever read a synopsis of a book, anticipated the release of the book just so you could devour it in mere hours? That was my anticipation level waiting to read “The Address”.

Description

Fiona Davis, author of The Dollhouse, returns with a compelling novel about the thin lines between love and loss, success and ruin, passion and madness, all hidden behind the walls of The Dakota, New York City’s most famous residence.

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.

In 1985, Bailey Camden is desperate for new opportunities. Fresh out of rehab, the former party girl and interior designer is homeless, jobless, and penniless. Two generations ago, Bailey’s grandfather was the ward of famed architect Theodore Camden. But the absence of a genetic connection means Bailey won’t see a dime of the Camden family’s substantial estate. Instead, her “cousin” Melinda—Camden’s biological great-granddaughter—will inherit almost everything. So when Melinda offers to let Bailey oversee the renovation of her lavish Dakota apartment, Bailey jumps at the chance, despite her dislike of Melinda’s vision. The renovation will take away all the character and history of the apartment Theodore Camden himself lived in . . . and died in, after suffering multiple stab wounds by a madwoman named Sara Smythe, a former Dakota employee who had previously spent seven months in an insane asylum on Blackwell’s Island.

One hundred years apart, Sara and Bailey are both tempted by and struggle against the golden excess of their respective ages—for Sara, the opulence of a world ruled by the Astors and Vanderbilts; for Bailey, the free-flowing drinks and cocaine in the nightclubs of New York City—and take refuge and solace in the Upper West Side’s gilded fortress. But a building with a history as rich—and often tragic—as The Dakota’s can’t hold its secrets forever, and what Bailey discovers in its basement could turn everything she thought she knew about Theodore Camden—and the woman who killed him—on its head.

With rich historical detail, nuanced characters, and gorgeous prose, Fiona Davis once again delivers a compulsively readable novel that peels back the layers of not only a famed institution, but the lives —and lies—of the beating hearts within.

What a promising set up! And yet, as I was reading, I was having trouble staying into the book! It’s as if I needed to take a break every 2-5% (kindle reader). I also work up beautiful Instagram quotes, and found that inspiration was few and far between.
While I’ve been enjoying historical fiction this year, and am accustomed to jumping timelines, I wish his particular book would have stayed historical fiction, and expand on the real story. To me, and I know I may be an unpopular opinion, it felt as though the 1985 timeline was just used as a filler- little to no content value whatsoever.
As unexcited I was to read/finish this book, that’s about my level of interest writing this blog post as well. That’s a pretty crappy thing to say! What’s even crappier, is that this was the first book this year that I actually thought to stop reading and place in the “Did Not Finish” pile. . . although, there is no pile, but this book would certainly start it.
As far as a recommendation, I cannot recommend this book. I found it completely dull, at times there was great imagery, but few and far between and certainly not enough to carry on throughout the entirety. Believe me, there are other, more well written historical fiction books you can immerse yourself in.

Fiona Davis has a runaway hit with The Address.

The novel takes place between two different time periods, 1985 and 1884. While such a contrast in times you’d feel that there wasn’t any connection between the two. Davis has wrapped up the past and the present so tightly they feel completely intertwined.

Sara Smythe has worked her way up as a head hotel housekeeper in London when a twist of fate brings her into contact with the famous Theodore Camden, a New York architect. After some persuasion, she leaves London to work at the soon to open famous Dakota apartment house.

Without giving too much away, the story also follows Bailey (a distant relative of the Camden's) through rehab, her discoveries about the past and the family connections.

This is one book that I snuck off to read just a few more sentences at a time. The writing and story line is so engaging that it was extremely hard to put down.

Put this on your “to read” list – you’ll be glad you did!