It's 1956 and nineteen-year-old Marion Brooks has just earned a coveted spot as one of the famed Rockettes. This is a dream job for her, despite her family's lack of support. Readers are taken behind the scenes of the life of a Rockette and woven into the narrative are Marion's personal life and the threat of the "Big Apple Bomber" - a mad man who is terrorizing the city.
Davis incorporates themes of family, murder, the restrictive expectations put upon women and a bit of mystery all set in a thriving era of New York City's history. There is a dual timeline, but I was thankful that much of the story is set in the 1950's. The modern timeline was so tertiary that it could have been omitted. The bomber plot line adds some tension, but it was getting a look into the lives, rehearsals, and productions of the Rockette's that had me eagerly turning the pages.
As with Davis' other books, she has added yet another NYC locale that I must visit when I finally make it back to the Big Apple. Other historic places include Grand Central Terminal, the Frick Mansion, and the NYC library.
This is a story about reaching for your dreams and set during a vibrant time in NYC's Radio City Music Hall's history. Don't miss this spectacular book which is in stores now.
New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion is over the moon to have been selected to be one of the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall’s glamorous precision-dancing troupe. It’s an honor to perform in the world’s most spectacular theater, an art deco masterpiece. But with four shows a day as well as grueling rehearsals, not to mention exacting standards of perfection to live up to, Marion quickly realizes that the life of a Rockette has both extraordinary highs and devastating lows.
Then one night a bomb explodes in the theater. It’s only the latest in a string of explosions around the city orchestrated by a person the press has nicknamed the "Big Apple Bomber." They have been terrorizing the citizens of New York for sixteen years by planting bombs in popular, crowded spaces. With the public in an uproar over the lack of any real leads after a yearslong manhunt, the police, at Marion’s urging, turn in desperation to a radical new technique: psychological profiling.
As Marion finds herself pulled deeper into the investigation, she realizes that as much as she’s been training herself to blend in—performing in perfect unison with all the other identical Rockettes—if she hopes to catch the bomber, she’ll need to stand out and take a terrifying risk. But she may be forced to sacrifice everything she’s worked for, as well as the people she loves the most.
My Rating: 4 stars
Author: Fiona Davis
Genre: Historical Fiction (US)
Type and Source: Hardcover from public library
Publisher: Dutton
First Published: June 13, 2023
Book Description from GoodReads: New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis transports us back to 1950s Manhattan and the glamorous Radio City Music Hall. . . .
New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion is over the moon to have been selected to be one of the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall’s glamorous precision-dancing troupe. It’s an honor to perform in the world’s most spectacular theater, an art deco masterpiece. But with four shows a day as well as grueling rehearsals, not to mention exacting standards of perfection to live up to, Marion quickly realizes that the life of a Rockette has both extraordinary highs and devastating lows.
Then one night a bomb explodes in the theater. It’s only the latest in a string of explosions around the city orchestrated by a person the press has nicknamed the "Big Apple Bomber." They have been terrorizing the citizens of New York for sixteen years by planting bombs in popular, crowded spaces. With the public in an uproar over the lack of any real leads after a yearslong manhunt, the police, at Marion’s urging, turn in desperation to a radical new technique: psychological profiling.
As Marion finds herself pulled deeper into the investigation, she realizes that as much as she’s been training herself to blend in—performing in perfect unison with all the other identical Rockettes—if she hopes to catch the bomber, she’ll need to stand out and take a terrifying risk. But she may be forced to sacrifice everything she’s worked for, as well as the people she loves the most.
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