The Lions of Fifth Avenue

A Novel

By: Fiona Davis

Narrated by: Erin Bennett, Lisa Flanagan

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick and a New York Times bestseller!

“A page-turner for booklovers everywhere! . . . A story of family ties, their lost dreams, and the redemption that comes from discovering truth.”—Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The Shoemaker's Wife

In New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis's latest historical novel, a series of book thefts roils the iconic New York Public Library, leaving two generations of strong-willed women to pick up the pieces.

It's 1913, and on the surface, Laura Lyons couldn't ask for more out of life—her husband is the superintendent of the New York Public Library, allowing their family to live in an apartment within the grand building, and they are blessed with two children. But headstrong, passionate Laura wants more, and when she takes a leap of faith and applies to the Columbia Journalism School, her world is cracked wide open. As her studies take her all over the city, she is drawn to Greenwich Village's new bohemia, where she discovers the Heterodoxy Club—a radical, all-female group in which women are encouraged to loudly share their opinions on suffrage, birth control, and women's rights. Soon, Laura finds herself questioning her traditional role as wife and mother. And when valuable books are stolen back at the library, threatening the home and institution she loves, she's forced to confront her shifting priorities head on . . . and may just lose everything in the process.

Eighty years later, in 1993, Sadie Donovan struggles with the legacy of her grandmother, the famous essayist Laura Lyons, especially after she's wrangled her dream job as a curator at the New York Public Library. But the job quickly becomes a nightmare when rare manuscripts, notes, and books for the exhibit Sadie's running begin disappearing from the library's famous Berg Collection. Determined to save both the exhibit and her career, the typically risk-averse Sadie teams up with a private security expert to uncover the culprit. However, things unexpectedly become personal when the investigation leads Sadie to some unwelcome truths about her own family heritage—truths that shed new light on the biggest tragedy in the library's history.

Excellent Beach Read

This novel captivated me and kept me company on my solo vacation to Mackinaw Island this past week. Great author looking for more from her now.

Interesting Story

This was a pretty good story with interesting historical facts of the early 1900’s in New York. The story could have come to life with better narration however. The speaker sounded flat and not interested in the story, perfunctory. Once past dry narration I was able to sink a bit more into the story.

Good book

The narrator was great and the storyline good. I found my mind wandering during more sections than I would like to admit.

A Sleeper

Although I do appreciate the research Ms. Davis does with the buildings she writes about, this story put me to sleep. Sadly enough, the boring story made me wish for the end to come sooner than later.

The mystery behind the book thefts.

I really like the storyline, the history behind the library as well as the pre-World War I era. However, I probably would have stopped reading the book because the author’s soft graphic descriptions of homosexual relationships blind side me. But by then I wanted to find out about the outcome of the book. It became so cliché - a jerk, weak chauvinistic husband caused his suppressed wife to seek other relationships. The author seemed to portray that men were all bad during that era. And women were driven to finding their freedom with other women. This is the first book I have read by her and I definitely like her subject matter and storyline, but I’m not sure that I will try another one if her goal is to continually show men in a bad light and a women oppressed and needing to show their independence.