The Magnolia Palace

Once Lillian realizes that the only way to clear her name is to solve the two mysteries herself, it doesn’t take her long to figure it out. At the end of Chapter 19, she tells Mr. Graham that she knows who the murderer is. Davis, however, keeps that information from the reader, saving it to reveal when Helen, Veronica, and Joshua meet up with Lillian and the two stories converge in 1966.

In Chapter 19, Lillian again reasserts her decisive, independent nature, going against Society’s View of a Woman’s Place. She goes to the organ room and finds Mr. Graham. Once again, the organ room is the setting for new discoveries and beginnings; it is there that they hatch a plan for Lillian to escape. Mr. Graham, it turns out, does not scorn her for her past as Angelica. Mr. Graham expresses a clear perspective on the double standard, saying, “‘The Fricks have quite a double standard, surrounded by hundreds of bronzed nudes and yet mortified at the thought of a naked woman in the flesh’” (284). Lillian is surprised by his statement and then gratified to discover that someone else sees the hypocrisy and accompanying shame that she has always faced. This validation helps Lillian become more comfortable with her modeling career and let go of some of the shame that the double standard has induced.

Chapter 19 is the last chapter set in 1919; in Chapter 20, Lillian and Archer enter the 1966 storyline, and the story moves forward from there. Miss Winnie, still alive and living at a nursing home, is the final piece of the puzzle. Davis brings all the major characters from both timelines together for the reveal of the murderer, a common mystery genre convention.

In Chapter 20, Veronica relieves her conscience and gives the diamond to Helen. She feels shame for disappointing Joshua. Lillian notices the dynamic, as Veronica “kept looking at the man—Joshua was his name—as if she needed something from him” (314). Beyond the attraction between them, Veronica is distressed by his disapproval, one of the reasons that she returns the diamond. Davis has her return the diamond so that she returns to the good graces in the eyes of readers, which is in line with her character.

When Miss Winnie admits to killing Mr. Frick, she claims that she “‘freed Miss Helen from the restraints of being her father’s daughter’” (319). In other words, Ms. Winnie is claiming that she freed Helen from a woman’s place. Mr. Frick’s death gave Helen the possibility of living a life of her choosing and pursuing her career. Although she still greatly admires and even reveres her father, after his death, she is freed from his ideas of a woman’s place and from the need to please a parent. In the end, beyond solving the mysteries, the greater good is that Lillian and Helen reconnect, forgive each other, and achieve closure on their history together.

The final two chapters of the novel give Davis the opportunity to wrap up all the loose ends of the two storylines. Veronica’s idea of using the diamond to fund a scholarship echoes Lillian’s past suggestion of donating its worth to a charity. Veronica’s scholarship idea reflects Helen’s passion for art and gives her the opportunity to support Joshua’s similar passion.

After moving away from New York City, Lillian avoids statues of herself: “When Lillian ventured into New York, she did her best to avoid passing any of her statues, as each stone-cold likeness stood as a reminder of how young and innocent she’d been, and how easily forgotten” (314). The statues only remind her of how her important role in their creation is now invisible, the double standard once again. When Helen reveals that a statue of Lillian will be part of the museum tour and that she will be identified as the model, Lillian finally gets the credit and validation she was missing for so long. She is at last able to let go of the remaining shame she feels and fully embrace the pride she once had in her contribution to the art world.