Lara Thompson

One Night, New York is Lara Thompson’s terrific debut novel. The story takes place on one December night in 1932, when two young women plot to get revenge on a man who has wronged them by pushing him off the top of the Empire State Building.

Frances ran away from her life in Depression-wracked Kansas for the fast life of the big city. There, she fell in love with Agnes, a photographer’s apprentice, and they both fell in with a bad crowd. It is a story of romance, corruption, art, Greenwich Village bohemians, nightclubs, and skyscrapers. This fast-paced historical fiction glimmers with the edgy glamor of old New York, right up to the nail-biting culmination.… (més)

I thought that this was a wonderful novel, and all the more impressive given that it is, as far as I am aware, Lara Thompson’s first book.

It would be difficult to offer much of a synopsis without running the risk of spoilers, and it is far too good a book to mar carelessly. Basically Frances leaves her brutal existence in poverty stricken Hays, Kansas to join her brother Stanley, who has established himself in 1930s New York. The train journey takes days rather than hours, and en route Frances encounters Dicky and Jacks, two relatively wealthy New Yorkers. They find Frances as alien as they seem to her, but establish a vague relationship, and Frances promises to contact them once she has settled in the city. Stanley is taciturn byt well meaning, although he won’t tell Frances any details about the job that he has landed. She gradually comes to realise that he is involved in some way with a night club, although details emerge only gradually.

The story flits around in time, opening with almost the final scene, with preceding events coming in the form of flashbacks. The cast of characters is wonderful, taking in affluent society figures, jazz musicians, and all sorts of figures involved in one way or another with the club, including the Mayor. The occasional scenes from Frances’s and Stanley’s former life in Kansas are heartrending, and offer a stark contrast to the vitality of the city. I found the portrayal of post-Crash New York very convincing.

This book made me recall The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles, which was one of my favourite novels of last year. They are set in different decades, but offered the same feeling of wide-eyed astonishment of country folk displaced to the big city. As a simple country boy myself, that is always a winning formula for me.

There are grim incidents throughout, but this is a beautiful book, and one that deserves a wide readership.… (més)

Agnes has had enough of the abuse from her father! So, she takes off to New York City to find her brother. Agnes is a small-town country girl. So, the big city has many appeals…and many dangers and her brother is tied up into all of them!

Agnes is a character I had big feelings for. She is truly a country bumpkin gone to town. But, it doesn’t take her long to find her niche. And when something happens to her brother, this does not stop her from taking matters into her own hands.

I fluctuated between 3 and 4 stars on this one. The story is very intriguing, I just found a lot of it to be too coincidental. But, the setting and the time period is right in my wheelhouse.

Stephanie Cannon, the narrator, did a wonderful job. I enjoyed how she enhanced all the voices and added the perfect inflection.

Need a twisty tale set in New York City…This is it! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for an honest review.… (més)