Five years ago, near the beginning of our blogging adventure, Rachel wrote about needing a silent night during December’s self-imposed mayhem and madness. I’ve felt that way all month. And the ten-day forecast doesn’t look any sunnier I’m afraid. I guess it’s true, even Santa Claus gets the blues. Or simply gets overwhelmed and unorganized—and needs someone else to come up with a holiday gift guide. You understand, don’t you?

While I’m feeling vulnerable, let me also say that I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to write about The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis. I read it a while before the holiday jam-up, before Good Morning America picked it for their reading group. (Honestly, I hate it when that happens; I like to get a jump on the popular clubs!) It won’t surprise I liked Davis’s latest—I’m New York born, I love a little mystery, and when it’s set in a library??? C’mon! This could be a great little Christmas gift for the booklovers in your life. The Jane Austen Society should definitely be wrapped up in something sparkly and placed under your favorite lit lover’s tree. (I vow to blog about that modern wonder next week!)

Since time is puttin’ the squeeze on me, I’ll let Rae’s girl Adriana Trigiani (NYT bestselling author of The Shoemaker’s Wife) give us the skinny on the lions. Here she goes: “The magnificent Fiona Davis has written a page turner for book lovers everywhere! I was on the edge of my seat as Laura Lyons, the ambitious essayist, breaks down social barriers and finds herself adrift in her own life at the end of the Belle Epoque in 1913 New York City. Secrets are revealed eighty years later by her granddaughter, who found her way into the family business, working at the New York Public Library. This is a story of family ties, their lost dreams and the redemption that comes from discovering truth.” If you’re fortunate to find a few silent nights this Christmas season, The Lions of Fifth Avenue will make for good company.

Posted by Tracy