Tiffany Blues

May 15, 2018

In 1924, 24-year-old Jenny Bell, hiding a ruinous secret, arrives in New York City. Thanks to her incredible talent, she's following her dream of studying painting at the famous Art Students League of New York. Then she's accepted for a summer internship at the Louis Comfort Tiffany foundation on his Laurelton estate on Long Island where she meets her generous benefactor and hopelessly falls for his grandson Oliver, who brings color back into her monochromatic life. But then her checkered past returns to haunt her, unraveling her carefully built life of lies and threatening all she holds dear. Rose (The Library of Light and Shadow) keeps readers spellbound with her skillful first-person narration, a tightly paced plot, and authentic details that vividly capture the Roaring Twenties, with a touch of Gatsby-esque flavor and opulence and a research-rich mix of facts and fiction. VERDICT This fast-paced mystery, star-crossed romance, and love letter to Louis Comfort Tiffany will captivate Rose's many fans and readers of 20th-century historical fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 2/19/18.]--Debbie Haupt, St. Charles City-Cty. Lib. Dist., St. Peters, MO

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2018
A talented artist with a complicated past is accepted into the prestigious fellowship program at Louis Comfort Tiffany's Laurelton Hall, where she spends a summer exploring light and shadows in art and life.Twenty-four-year-old Jenny Bell has had a difficult life. Her mother, Faith, an artist, was widowed before Jenny was born. When Faith was offered a job in Canada, they moved from Ithaca to Hamilton, Ontario, where Faith eventually married the Reverend, an abusive man who hid his darker tendencies from his adoring congregation. After a series of tragedies, Jenny made her way to Manhattan and befriended Minx, a fellow art student who comes from a wealthy family but has her own troubled past. Unbeknownst to Jenny, Minx submits work from both of them and they are accepted as fellows through the Tiffany Foundation and invited to spend eight weeks at Laurelton Hall on Long Island, "known as a paradise of light and color, art, and nature." Jenny is not happy that Minx applied behind her back but decides it's an opportunity she can't refuse. Jenny settles in, honored to explore her talent and meet the great Mr. Tiffany and his (fictional) grandson, who may be her soul mate. Opening up about her past frees some deep fears, but then unnerving events make her wonder if someone is targeting her. Author Rose steps away from the magical elements that defined her recent titles and instead brings to life the enchanted setting of Laurelton Hall, its artists' colony, and the vibrant backdrop of New York's Roaring '20s, applying her typical intricate plotting, sensuous descriptions, and abundant skill in blending fact, fiction, and a broad cast of distinctive characters to captivating effect.A lush, mesmerizing story.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 25, 2018
News of the real-life 1957 fire that destroyed Laurelton Hall, Louis Comfort Tiffany’s mansion on Long Island, prompts Jenny Bell, the narrator of this intriguing, supernaturally tinged historical from bestseller Rose (The Library of Light and Shadow), to recall her time at Laurelton, where she “came of age as both a woman and a painter.” Flash back to Manhattan in the spring of 1924. Minx Deering, the spoiled daughter of a shipping magnate father and a socialite mother, takes aspiring artist Jenny under her wing. That relationship leads to an opportunity for Jenny to spend two months at Laurelton, where she’s obliged to be only engaged in her host’s “quest for beauty.” Jenny’s complex backstory deepens the familiar contours of a young woman’s finding love and professional purpose. Rose artfully reveals, in stages, how Jenny was shaped by the death of her stepfather, an abusive cleric, who was accidentally pushed to his death by her mother. The paranormal aspect—ominous messages from a Ouija board—is unobtrusive. The multifaceted Jenny will strike Rose fans as her best creation yet. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House.

June 1, 2018
Laurelton Hall, the mansion owned by Louis Comfort Tiffany, burned down in 1957. Who was responsible? Why was the place torched? Rose offers a clever solution to the mystery with this story of Jenny Bell, a young woman who, in 1924, is invited to Tiffany's prestigious artists' colony. There she encounters jealousy, intrigue, and suspicious goings-on. Most alarmingly, she realizes someone may have learned about secrets from her past that she thought she'd managed to bury. It's a glitzy Jazz Age story but one with a noirish current of darkness running throughout that suggests things aren't going to end well?not for Jenny, not for anybody around her. Written with a good eye for character and period detail.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)