So.while I liked the mystery central to the book.I took issue with several things which influenced my overall opinion of just two stars.įirst off, AUTHORS! DON'T EVER SPOIL A CLASSIC NOVEL BY REVEALING ITS SECRETS! EVER!!!! Especially when that novel happens to be the greatest novel written in the English language: Jane Eyre.

This historical caper feels fresh and exciting, thanks to a breezy writing style and excellent pacing. Rose’s story has parallels to the suffragette movement and is a grim reminder of the challenges women faced at the time. But perhaps the most impressive feat is how Fitzgerald deftly handles a narrative that is essentially about involuntary confinement and turns it into a caper. There is glitz in the form of Sewell’s mansion, but there is also poverty- represented by Martha’s own crowded apartment and her mother’s dashed optimism. There is a cinematic quality to the narrative and Fitzgerald uses visual and historical details to paint a clear portrait of 1920s New York. Her dialogue is saucy and her devotion to the truth is inspiring, which will speak to readers’ strong sense of justice. Sewell’s charm and intentions, and takes the side of woman most people have dismissed as mad. She talks back to her teacher (a rather unforgiving nun), is suspicious of Mr. What happened to Rose? Why is she obsessed with the paintings? And who is leaking stories about the Sewells- some of them untrue- to the tabloids?įrom the first chapter we understand that Martha is a girl with modern ideas. In her youth Rose was a charming party girl, but now she spends her days ranting and raving about paintings in a locked bedroom.

Martha accompanies her mother only to get caught up in a mystery surrounding his wife, Rose. Martha is the daughter of a housekeeper who has started working in the home of newspaper magnate Mr.

The gallery by laura marx fitzgerald