My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I do enjoy the books that Ms. Fiona writes, how she takes a building's history in New York and then yarns a tale with the building as a key character. The Address was perhaps one of my favorite, so while this one was fine, it certainly wasn't as good as what I was previously exposed to. I suppose that maybe with this one I felt like, once again, we have the social mores of today pushed upon a time period that wasn't as strong. I applaud the woman's suffrage and idea of what a woman's role is in the family, as I know it has to start somewhere. However, this just seemed sort of forced.
But as for the stolen books that is the main mystery, of course I love that. At first I was thinking like a public school librarian- books get lost or stolen all the time. But this book did highlight the severity of stealing a rare book, and what it means to a constantly evolving society. So that was cool. And I also had to google the apartment in the NYPL. My dream world. Or would it be too much of a good thing? I would, however, love to read the spinster book constantly mentioned. It sounds fascinating.