The Fifth Avenue Artists Society
Ratings2
Average rating3.5
"A charming debut about a family of four artistic sisters on the outskirts of Gilded Age New York high society and centered on the oldest--an aspiring writer caught between the boy next door and a mysterious novelist who inducts her into Manhattan's most elite artistic salon which has a seedy underbelly and secrets to hide"--
The Bronx, 1891. The four Loftin sisters live in genteel poverty. When Charlie, the boy next door, proposes to a wealthy woman, Ginny is devastated and begins obsessively rewriting her story, seeking a better ending. She attends a salon hosted in her brother's writer friend at a Fifth Avenue mansion. John Hopper's romantic attentions help Ginny return to herself, until Charlie throws himself back into her path, and Ginny learns that the salon's bright lights may be obscuring some dark shadows.
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I really enjoyed the first half of the book. The depictions of the artist society were delightful and I wish they still existed as they did then. The sights, sounds, smells, would have been a feast for the senses and the imagination. I feel like we rarely seek public critique or encouragement any more. Generally art we put online is to gain approval, not improvement. I really appreciate a book that has a writer and writing at the forefront.
The second half of the book lost me completely. It irritates me that a simple google search shows that The Bronx wasn't even named until several years after the book setting (in 1898). The language and behaviour of the characters is not historically accurate and made me cringe.
I really enjoyed this book, even more so after meeting the author and learning about her family history that is the basis for the story. I feel like I got a glimpse into turn of the century NY and the societies that they may have participated in. Great read!
