Friday, Nov. 4, The New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis ’88 discussed her latest book, “The Magnolia Palace,” at the Earl Gregg Swem library for the biennial Ferguson Blair Publishing Seminar.
The discussion began with a brief statement from the College of William and Mary’s Dean of University Libraries Carrie Cooper.
Cooper expressed her excitement for the fourth year of the “One Book, One Community” partnership and invited residents and students to engage with the library’s growing collections of literary works.
“A few years ago, we were the beneficiaries of an endowment that would help us become a research destination for the study of Virginia female writers,” Cooper said. “Libraries are likely spaces for book talks and we’ve been attentive to the wonderful writers of our alumni community. This endowment makes it possible to take our commitment to the next step. We see a future with writers in residence, writing conferences and an archive that is full of books and manuscripts by female Virginia writers.”
Cooper introduced Tracy Melton ’85, an author and member of Swem’s Board of Directors, to welcome Davis to the event.
“I write and I love to write about and read about places and the people in those places. And as a researcher, I love those ‘ah-ha’ moments when you’re trying to put together a story and you find just the right piece that puts it all together. I’m excited to hear Fiona tell her tales of doing the same thing.”
“I write and I love to write about and read about places and the people in those places,” Melton said. “And as a researcher, I love those ‘ah-ha’ moments when you’re trying to put together a story and you find just the right piece that puts it all together. I’m excited to hear Fiona tell her tales of doing the same thing.”
Davis was an International Relations major and an English minor at the College. After her undergraduate education, she went to New York City, intending to pursue an acting career. However, her interest in writing became concrete after procuring her Master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
From a young age, Davis liked to imagine the history of each building and the experience that different individuals would’ve had in each estate.
Davis’ research for “The Magnolia Palace” was centered on the history of the Frick Collection museum, which was built in 1913-14 for Henry Clay Frick and is located in the Upper East Side of New York at the southern end of Museum Mile. Frick, his wife Adelaide and his daughter Helen moved into the estate in 1914 and were served by a staff of 27 individuals.
“Mr. Frick was a big art collector,” Davis said. “And so, instead of a ballroom, which normally a gilded age mansion at that time would have, he made it into an art gallery. And apparently, he used to go in there late at night and sit in there in the dark and just look at his paintings.”
The furnishings and art in each room of the Frick caught Davis’s attention, particularly in the context of the architectural history of the building.
“They were surrounded by all this beautiful artwork and all these beautiful furnishings and all this luxury, but they were haunted by a tragedy that happened many years earlier, when the older sister to Helen, Martha, died at the age of 5 under terrible circumstances and it really destroyed the family,” Davis said.
Davis took great interest in Helen Frick, especially in regards to her history as an unmarried woman with a significant amount of wealth.
“She was just a study in contradictions. So I knew she had to be the main character in the book. There was something about her that really appealed to me. As I was leaving the Frick house from my tour, I looked up above the door, and there’s a figure carved in stone. And I learned that the woman who posed for this was Audrey Munson.”
“She was just a study in contradictions,” Davis said. “So I knew she had to be the main character in the book. There was something about her that really appealed to me. As I was leaving the Frick house from my tour, I looked up above the door, and there’s a figure carved in stone. And I learned that the woman who posed for this was Audrey Munson.”
Audrey Munson was considered to be “America’s first supermodel.” Munson posed for hundreds of sculptures in the Beaux-Arts age and was praised for her neoclassical features. Munson is featured in over two-dozen statues in New York City alone.
In the height of her modeling career, Munson was caught in a scandal which caused her to flee New York with her mother, but she was unable to recover emotionally from the stress of the incident. Munson lived to the age of 104 and was buried in an unmarked grave.
“I just thought, here’s the woman who’s been lost to history,” Davis said. “Right? Like Helen, they’re overshadowed by the men. So, we know the sculptors’ names, but no one knows Audrey Munson’s. And we know Henry Frick’s name, but no one really knows Helen’s.”
Though Munson and Frick were not directly connected, Davis began her work incorporating the stories of both women into her recent book, emphasizing the connection they shared via the Frick Collection museum.
Davis did an extensive amount of research for The Magnolia Palace with the help of architectural historians, literary pieces, Frick archival pieces and interviews with curators. In her piece, Davis modified Aubrey Munson’s name to be Lillian Carter, and integrated her character into two separate timelines and points of view.
The book talk concluded with a brief question and answer period which allowed event attendees to ask Davis questions about her production and inspiration processes.
Students and alumni alike enjoyed gathering for Davis’s talk and reflected on the experience, sharing their intentions to read her new pieces.
Attendee Mahaley Wise ’25 read about the experience on the Swem library page and was excited to attend to hear Davis discuss her new book.
“I thought it would be interesting because I’ve been interested in creative writing since I was in middle school and I thought it was a good opportunity to meet someone who actually was in that career, and someone who was also at William and Mary and didn’t do a writing major, because I’m not a writing major or an English major or anything, and just how she took her major and became a writer,” Wise said.
Davis also told attendees that she has already begun the publication process of her next book, which is inspired by the story of the secrets of Radio City from the perspective of a former Rockette.
“That book comes out June 13th, 2023,” Davis said. “It’s called ‘The Spectacular.’ And it’s set in the 50s from the point of view of a Rockette. We’re just working on covers. We’ll do a big cover reveal in a couple of weeks.”