Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Jennifer Vido | Jen’s Jewels Interview: THE MAGNOLIA PALACE by Fiona Davis
Author Guest / January 28, 2022

Jen Vido: What inspired your new book, THE MAGNOLIA PALACE? Fiona Davis: THE MAGNOLIA PALACE was inspired by the Frick Collection, a museum in New York City that was home to Henry Clay Frick (an industrialist and art collector), and his family. I loved that it was both a residence and a museum, which works well with a dual-timeline novel. Some of the characters are real people – Henry Clay Frick and Helen Frick, his adult daughter, in particular. And some are fictional, like Lillian, who’s inspired by a celebrated artists’ model from the 1910s named Audrey Munson. Audrey posed for the reclining nude figure that’s carved above the entrance to the Frick mansion. In 1919, what happens in Lillian Carter’s life that lands her in the Frick mansion? Lillian has been struggling in her career as an artists’ model since her mother died earlier that year, and then was accused by the police of being part of a sordid love triangle after her landlord killed his wife. (The scandal is drawn directly from Audrey Munson’s real life.) Early in the book, Lillian is staring up at the image of herself in the Frick’s doorway, wondering what’s going to become…