The Lions of Fifth Avenue, by Fiona Davis

The Lions of Fifth Avenue tells a story as formidable as the stone lions at the New York Public Library’s entrance.

Fiona Davis puts her whole self into her stories, which makes her writing so wonderfully accessible to her readers. The plot of The Lions of Fifth Avenue has an odd shape. It darts between decades and weaves together the many sides of a mystery that is solved through a beautiful exposition of the personal struggles of two women, generations apart. Laura, the grandmother, lived in the superintendent’s apartment in the New York Public Library in 1913 and in 1993 her granddaughter, Sadie, was a curator at the library. The two never met. The reader learns of Laura’s struggle as it happened, and in a brilliant use of narrative technique by Davis, Sadie learned about her grandmother as a mystery unfolded regarding the disappearance of rare books from the library, including one that was lost in 1913. It is a layered approach to telling a story that is rich and complex with all its twists and turns performed in and around the storied halls of the New York Public Library.

Many writers would not be capable of creating two heroines as diverse as Laura and Sadie in the same novel because two characters are not conducive to setting a hook and reeling a reader in, what a blockbuster novelist aspires to do. While telling her story, Davis puts the development of her characters before a trendy mystery plot. The action sometimes moves fast and other times shuffles along. It isn’t very different from running up the stairs to an exhibit in the library and later strolling through the stacks. Discovery of the self doesn’t move at convenient pace. Laura must experience harsh lessons from her journalism pursuits before she can become a renowned essayist. Also, she must detour into the love of a woman before she understands a difficulty of a husband. And, of course, there’s the tragedy of learning it too late. Sadie’s story has no overlap. She is her own woman and struggles with romance and trust in an entirely different manner. Although her travails occur in the same library halls, they are of a different kind. Both women are extraordinary, but in different ways. That the story is told by two such different heroines makes it hard to put down. The clues are spaced eighty years apart.

The Lions of Fifth Avenue is probably not for every reader. Those who are looking for a clever plot line, snappy dialogue, and dynamic events involving easily comprehended characters may be disappointed. One could recommend many TV movies that will satisfy them. Davis does not write for the impatient reader. Her style is old fashioned and her characters will reward old fashioned, deep thinking readers with nuance and revelation. One needs to ruminate about these two women, and make a personal assessment of the unique place in the world inhabited by them, whether that be today’s library or wartime London. The Lions of Fifth Avenue is filled with beautiful detail and contrast regarding two complex women living in very different times. Sorry, no trendy stuff here. Fiona Davis has not written a story that can be laid out in a Facebook post.

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