What a treat to receive an advanced copy of Fiona Davis' latest novel in the works, The Lions of Fifth Avenue. Davis has become an automatic, must-read author for me. I always find it enormously satisfying to sink into a novel of New York told via Davis' signature, dual-timeline narrative structure. When I saw she was writing a novel set in my favorite NYC landmark, the iconic Stephen A. Schwarzman branch of the New York Public Library - it was like all my reader dreams came true.
Davis tells the tales behind the famous landmarks and neighborhoods of arguably the most iconic city on earth. Her structure of alternating timelines tie history into a more modern context, and she always creates characters that you can root for. This is absolutely the case in her latest novel. The Lions of Fifth Avenue was an absolute delight for librarians, readers, and lovers of NYC.

This was a very enjoyable book. I have read others by this author and liked them all. This novel takes place in 2 time periods, but it is not confusing to follow. I loved the setting of the New York Public Library. A good book group novel for discussion!
Thank You NetGalley and the publisher

The Lions of Fifth Avenue takes the reader to two different time periods; the first being 1913-14, and the second is 1993. In 1913, Laura Lyons lives in an apartment tucked away in the main branch of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue. She resides there with her husband Jack, the library superintendent, and her two young children, Harry and Pearl. Laura dreams of becoming a journalist, and gets accepted into the Columbia University School of Journalism’s one-year graduate program. She is one of the few women in the program. Fast forward to 1993; Sadie Donovan is a librarian at the very same library where the Lyons family lived. She gets a temporary promotion as curator of the Berg Collection, which is to feature works and artifacts of American and English Literature. This library is not a lending library, but a research library, where books and manuscripts are only borrowed inside its walls.

As Laura becomes more involved with reporting on the progressive women’s movement happening in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, she struggles with her role as a wife and mother. She questions her position in the family and realizes she wants more out of her life; she doesn’t want to live in the shadow of her husband, who is pursuing a career as a writer and spends every moment of his free time working on his manuscript. Laura struggles with the guilt she feels over leaving her children regularly to pursue her stories, and this guilt contrasts with the exhilaration she feels knowing she might just be making a difference in the lives of women everywhere.

The two time periods are tied together by a series of book thefts. As it turns out, Sadie Donovan is related to Laura Lyons; she is her grandmother. The story unfolds as the characters in their respective time periods attempt to solve the mystery of these valuable and rare stolen books and return them to the library. As one would suspect, the two time periods are inextricably tied to one another, and it is through a series of discoveries and events that the reader finally learns what happened. Although I found certain aspects of the plot and characters a bit predictable, I still could not turn the pages fast enough as I learned about each nuance of the mystery. My accurate predictions did not detract from the enjoyment of reading the book.

I quickly became engrossed in every aspect of the story as the author’s characters came to life. The vivid descriptions of the NYPL piqued my curiosity. I identified with the characters’ positions as they grappled with their choices and motivations.

The author dedicated the book to “librarians everywhere,” and it’s clear that Ms. Davis has done her research. The reader learns the importance of librarians and the role they play in preserving history and disseminating information to knowledge-hungry patrons. My hope is that readers of this book gain a new appreciation for the work of the librarian; it’s not just about checking books out. As a librarian myself, I thank the author for portraying the profession in a positive light, and I’m confident that librarians reading the book will also be grateful. Having finished the book, I wonder if my next read can even come close to how wonderful this book was! Fans of Fiona Davis’s other books will not be disappointed, and for those who never read one of her books, you’ll want to grab her other titles as well.

I really enjoyed this book, and found the setting of the New York Public Library an intriguing one. There were two different time periods in the book, and I found the historic one more enjoyable than the one set in 1993.