The Magnolia Palace

Lillian is due to meet with Helen on her first morning of work, but she explores the mansion first. Helen’s lady’s maid, Bertha, shows her around, but they steer clear of Mr. Frick’s study and art gallery as entry requires his permission. Bertha also gives Lillian background information about the Fricks, particularly Henry Clay Frick. Finally, she meets Helen in her sitting room. When Helen is difficult and picky, Lillian reminds herself that she only has to stay for one month.

Throughout the house, there are portraits of a young girl who Lillian assumes to be Helen, but when she brings them up, both Helen and Mrs. Frick get upset. Because it is her first day, Lillian is invited to eat lunch with the Fricks. She finds out that Helen has a brother, Childs, who lives in Long Island with his wife. Mr. Frick looks down upon his son’s scientific interests as divergent from his own passion for fine arts.

Mr. Frick questions Lillian about her references, but an organ suddenly starts to play and drowns them all out. Mr. Frick has hired a man, Mr. Archer Graham, to play the mansion’s organ during lunch. Afterward, Mr. Frick leaves for his club, and Helen asks him to take a coat. When he refuses, she follows him out and tosses the coat in through the car window. Helen believes she has won the battle, but Mr. Frick dismissively and disrespectfully drops the coat out the car window and drives away.

Later that day, Helen shows Lillian her secret project in an alcove near the bowling alley. She is cataloging her father’s favorite artworks that he owns, listing history and provenance. Lillian proposes that Helen catalog all of Frick’s artwork to create a library, and Helen is immediately drawn to the idea. She directs Lillian to finish her current project so that she can move on to planning the library.

Lillian has been working for Helen for two weeks. At night, when she cannot sleep, she explores the mansion. She is enjoying living in a house with so much beautiful artwork. One night, the door to Mr. Frick’s study, which includes the art gallery, is open. She goes in to look at the paintings, but Mr. Frick is there. Helen has given him the catalog that Lillian finished. He points out one of the entries Lillian wrote. Tired and frustrated, she had made up the entry rather than doing the necessary research.

By cutting these corners, Lillian risked ruining the book; she now fears that Mr. Frick will tell Helen, who would fire her. Mr. Frick is kind, however, and tells her about Helen’s time with the Red Cross during World War I. Her health has suffered since, which explains why Helen rarely goes out. Mr. Frick tells Lillian that Helen is fragile, even though she doesn’t seem so. Helen told him about the art history library idea, but he thinks it would be too much for her.

He believes that Helen should be married but is too difficult and spoiled to attract a husband. He offers Lillian $1,000 to help Helen get engaged to the suitor he has chosen by Christmas (a sum equivalent to nearly $17,000 at the time of the novel’s publication). Even though it means staying longer, Lillian accepts.

A week later, Lillian is helping Helen dress for a dinner party, at which she will be introduced to Richard Danforth, the suitor her father chose. Helen knows the purpose of the evening and doesn’t want to be humiliated. She is nervous and irritable.

Lillian planned and executed the dinner party, and she is surprised at both how well she did it and how satisfying the work was. Helen is still worried about the evening and lashes out, saying that her older sister would’ve done a better job organizing the party. Finally, Lillian learns about Martha, Helen’s older sister, who died as a child, and Helen shows her a cameo of the girl. She opens the back to reveal the 12-carat pink Magnolia Diamond. Helen goes downstairs to the party, and Lillian checks on the food and drinks. When she does, one of the party guests, Mrs. Whitney, recognizes her as Angelica.

In 1966, the snowstorm continues. Veronica finds a candle and, remembering the clues she found, decides to distract herself by solving them. The markings tell her that she has 11 clues of 20 total. The first clue mentions “the magnificent magnolia treasure” (105), and she wonders if it is connected to the missing Magnolia Diamond.

Veronica finds the painting described in the 11th clue and locates the 12th clue in a nearby book. Before she can open it, however, Joshua finds her. He fell asleep while working in the archives, and they are locked in together. They talk about climbing out the window, but Joshua points out that the alarm will go off, and, as a Black man, he is nervous about the police finding him there after hours.

Instead, they light the fireplace, and Veronica falls asleep. When she wakes up the next morning, Joshua tells her that the radio is reporting a citywide shutdown until the next morning. They will be trapped there for another day.

Veronica sees this as an opportunity to continue her scavenger hunt. Joshua tells her about his work in the archives, located in an alcove off the bowling alley in the basement. He mentions that Helen Frick is still alive, nearly 80 years old. Veronica shows Joshua the clues, and he gets excited because he knows who wrote them.