In this captivating novel, New York Times bestselling author Fiona
Davis takes readers into the glamorous lost art school within Grand
Central Terminal, where two very different women, fifty years apart,
strive to make their mark on a world set against them.
For most New Yorkers, Grand Central Terminal is a crown jewel, a
masterpiece of design. But for Clara Darden and Virginia Clay, it
represents something quite different.
For Clara, the terminal is the stepping stone to her future. It is 1928,
and Clara is teaching at the lauded Grand Central School of Art. Though
not even the prestige of the school can override the public's disdain
for a "woman artist," fiery Clara is single-minded in her quest to
achieve every creative success--even while juggling the affections of
two very different men. But she and her bohemian friends have no idea
that they'll soon be blindsided by the looming Great Depression...and
that even poverty and hunger will do little to prepare Clara for the
greater tragedy yet to come.
By 1974, the terminal has declined almost as sharply as Virginia Clay's
life. Dilapidated and dangerous, Grand Central is at the center of a
fierce lawsuit: Is the once-grand building a landmark to be preserved,
or a cancer to be demolished? For Virginia, it is simply her last
resort. Recently divorced, she has just accepted a job in the
information booth in order to support herself and her college-age
daughter, Ruby. But when Virginia stumbles upon an abandoned art school
within the terminal and discovers a striking watercolor, her eyes are
opened to the elegance beneath the decay. She embarks on a quest to find
the artist of the unsigned masterpiece--an impassioned chase that draws
Virginia not only into the battle to save Grand Central but deep into
the mystery of Clara Darden, the famed 1920s illustrator who disappeared
from history in 1931.
