Serendipity and The Spectacular: a New Release from Fiona Davis

BY KATE BRAITHWAITE

New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis has thrilled readers around the world with her historical novels set in iconic New York landmark buildings. In her latest, The Spectacular (Dutton, June 2023), she turns her attention to Radio City Music Hall. It’s easy to imagine her in a writing room somewhere, keeping under lock and key a master list of buildings that she has her creative eye upon, but no, it turns out the real story behind this one is much more spontaneous and interesting to learn about.

“I don’t have a running list, as I find I can’t plan that far ahead!” she tells me. “So far a fun idea has dropped into my lap every time I’ve needed one, and fingers crossed that continues.”

In the case of The Spectacular, the idea came in an email from a reader. “As I was finishing up edits on my last book,” Davis explains, “I got an email through my author website from a woman in her 80s named Sandy, who explained that she was a former Rockette and thought Radio City Music Hall would make an excellent setting for one of my novels. I couldn’t resist calling her and asking some questions about the years she danced on that famous stage, and it turned out she also had a large stack of reference material as well, including notes on the daily life of a Rockette, programs, and photos.”

The novel that emerges from this beginning is entertaining and thought-provoking. It’s the story of two very different sisters, Marion and Judy, and highlights the restrictions that were part and parcel of life for women in the 1950s. “I spoke with many Rockettes,” Davis says, “who had parents who disapproved of their decision to go into the performing arts – basically the options were wife, teacher, nurse, or secretary. Judy wants to please her father by becoming a secretary, while Marion is willing to risk his wrath by dancing as a Rockette. My hope is readers will see how far we’ve come in terms of deciding for ourselves what to do with our lives, as well as how far we still have to go.”

author photo by Deborah Feingold

Further interest and intrigue in the story concerns a real-life historical figure known as the Mad Bomber. George Metesky, an electrician, terrorised New Yorkers over a sixteen-year period, planting explosive devices in theaters, terminals, libraries and in Radio City Music Hall where, in the novel, Marion has upset her family by auditioning to join the Rockettes. Largely forgotten, the Mad Bomber jumped out at Davis during her research process. “Once I’ve narrowed down the decade I want to write about, I pull up the TimesMachine, which is an online archive of articles from the New York Times all the way back to 1851. It’s helpful in terms of figuring out what was going on locally and nationally. I tend to use a mixture of libraries and online research. One of my favorite things to do is hit the New York Public Library and leaf through old women’s magazines. They provide a colorful window into women’s concerns, fashions, and daily life.”

For The Spectacular, though, Davis had an additional secret research weapon when it came to writing about Radio City Music Hall – in the form of Sandy, the former Rockette’s husband, Bob. “Bob ran the lighting for the stage shows at Radio City in the 1950s (that’s how he and Sandy met),” she explains. “And he created an amazing floorplan for me, with an explanation of all the different levels as well as the complicated stage design with its three hydraulic lifts. During my tour of the building, I was able to get a spatial sense of what had been there before, as well as a sneak peek into hidden gems like the art-deco apartment called the Roxy Suite, which is beautifully preserved.”

Already Davis is hard at work on her next book. “I’m just starting a book that will be set at the Met Museum, and am deep in the research phase,” she tells me. “It’s a joy to be able to bring some of New York City’s finest buildings to life, and I’m so grateful to the readers for joining me on this journey.”

About the contributor: Kate Braithwaite is a novelist and editor for the Historical Novel Society. Her next book, The Scandalous Life of Nancy Randolph, will be published by Lume Books in 2024.