The Fifth Avenue Artists Society: A Novel
By Joy Callaway
3.5/5
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About this ebook
“The creative sisterhood of Little Women, the social scandal of Edith Wharton and the courtship mishaps of Jane Austen. . . . The Fifth Avenue Artists Society is delightful.” — New York Daily News
In a family of four artistic sisters on the outskirts of Gilded Age New York high society, the oldest—an aspiring writer—is caught between the boy next door and a mysterious novelist who inducts her into Manhattan’s most elite artistic salon which has a seedy underbelly and secrets to hide.
The Bronx, 1891. Virginia Loftin, the boldest of four sisters in a family living in genteel poverty, knows what she wants most: to become a celebrated novelist despite her gender, and to marry Charlie, the boy next door and her first love.
When Charlie proposes instead to a woman from a wealthy family, Ginny is devastated; shutting out her family, she holes up and turns their story into fiction, obsessively rewriting a better ending. Though she works with newfound intensity, literary success eludes her—until she attends a salon hosted in her brother’s writer friend John Hopper’s Fifth Avenue mansion. Among painters, musicians, actors, and writers, Ginny returns to herself, even blooming under the handsome, enigmatic John’s increasingly romantic attentions.
Just as she and her siblings have become swept up in the society, though, Charlie throws himself back into her path, and Ginny learns that the salon’s bright lights may be obscuring some dark shadows. Torn between two worlds that aren’t quite as she’d imagined them, Ginny will realize how high the stakes are for her family, her writing, and her chance at love.
Joy Callaway
Joy Callaway is the international bestselling author of What the Mountains Remember, All the Pretty Places, The Grand Design, Secret Sisters, and The Fifth Avenue Artists Society. She lives in Charlotte, NC, with her family. Visit her online at joycallaway.com; Instagram: @joywcal; and Facebook: @JoyCallawayAuthor.
Read more from Joy Callaway
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Reviews for The Fifth Avenue Artists Society
17 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I can't summon much enthusiasm for this historical novel about a family with various artistic talents struggling to make their way in late nineteenth-century New York City. I struggled to get into this book and while I liked the main character Virginia and her struggles to get her novel published, I found the drug plot that Franklin becomes entangled in a little far-fetched. The best part of the book was the author's note at the end explaining the novel as a fictionalization of a few of her own ancestors.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifth Avenue Artists Society is an enthralling glimpse into New York City literary and artistic society in the 1890’s. Virginia Loftin, an aspiring writer, is one of five children whose family has been struggling financially ever since their father died several years before. The family resides in the Bronx, and all but one of the siblings are artistic - a musician, two writers, and a milliner who designs outlandish creations for her many clients, including the Astors and the Vanderbilts. As the book opens, Virginia is jilted by the love of her life. As she struggles to overcome her grief and anger, she pours out her soul into her writing. To help distract her, her brother Franklin introduces her to a group of artists, musicians, and writers that meet frequently at the fictional John Hopper’s house on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. As she becomes more involved with this group and its founder, she realizes that everything is not always as it seems.Joy Callaway does a wonderful job depicting the female role in society in the 1890’s. Both Virginia and her sister Alevia struggle to succeed in their respective fields because women were not yet viewed as anything but homemakers and in the wealthy set as the keeper of the social calendar and obligations. As they both begin to break through this barrier, they are then barred by society’s failure to look past a family scandal completely outside of their control. I never fail to be amazed at what earlier women endured to provide us with the freedom and choice we have today as females in the U.S. Some of my favorite parts of the novel were the appearances of Edith Wharton and Oscar Wilde at Hopper’s Fifth Avenue mansion. I also loved the descriptions of the early days of the great publishing houses like Henry Holt and G.P. Putnam’s Sons. The author clearly did her research which added tremendously to the novel. She also details at the end of the novel her inspiration for the story – her own ancestors. I felt that contributed a lot to the book also.My one complaint was that I felt that Virginia should have been a little less wishy-washy regarding her suitor situation. She vacillated too much for me. I also felt that her view towards her brother as later events unfold was not very realistic (I do not want to spoil part of the story by saying more). Thanks to HarperCollins for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed reading it and recommend it as a fascinating view of New York City society and the arts in the 1890’s.