Oh wow what a debut ! I adored One Night, New York and was completely immersed in this amazing novel. The night in question is the winter solstice in 1930s New York and the novel moves backwards and forwards between that night to a few months earlier when Frances moves from a farm in Kansas to join her brother Stan in New York. I loved the period detail and atmosphere and the author's portrayal of New York - which is a character in itself in this novel. This is in many ways a coming of age crime /love story set amongst the clubs, bohemians and criminals of Greenwich village. The author paints such a convincing picture that I could visualise it as a black and white Hollywood movie. This is a novel that really stayed with me and I'd love to read a sequel ! Highly recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC.

At the top of the Empire State Building on a freezing December night, two women hold their breath. Frances and Agnes are waiting for the man who has wronged them. They plan to seek the ultimate revenge.
Set over the course of a single night, One Night, New York is a detective story, a romance and a coming-of-age tale. It is also a story of old New York, of bohemian Greenwich Village between the wars, of floozies and artists and addicts, of a city that sucked in creatives and immigrants alike, lighting up the world, while all around America burned amid the heat of the Great Depression.
I was with her wholeheartedly - she simply feels so real. The narrative bounces back and forth from the top of the Empire State Building, all the way back to Frances leaving rural Kansas, but it is Frances’s point of view we follow. As a poor girl in a thin dress and broken sandals she is noticed by a couple of bohemian types, a photographer and journalist. They are looking for stories and characters that will appeal to a wealthy NYC elite, and poverty stricken farmers are making headlines as the Depression bites. They see something in Frances and want to photograph her, but she is meeting her brother at the station and takes their card. We see her settled into Stan’s tenement flat, taking embroidery in for Mrs Bianchi next door. How does she go from this to committing an act of violence at the Empire State.
What we’re seeing is an awakening. It’s not so much a loss of innocence - I realise that went a long time ago when she relates the things she’s seen and suffered. In NYC, although she’ll experience trauma, she also gains so much strength and self-knowledge. There’s an awakening that’s sensual as she learns to love the feel of fine fabrics on her skin and the joy of moving her body to the music. She gains a love and understanding of art, responding emotionally to the most complex modern pieces as well as the photographs she takes with new friend Agnes. There’s also an awakening of sexual desire, something she has never experienced before.
The structure brings an amazing tension to the novel. We might think we’ve worked out what is going on, but it’s so much worse than I imagined. We are drip fed the events leading up to the present moment, and the author doesn’t reveal the man Frances and Agnes have lured to the building until right at the very end. The girls become friends before realising they are both affected by the ambitious men who will build this city. Women are disappearing and men have all of the power in this world. It is the resulting arrogance and certainty that lures their victim to such a precarious and windy place. Agnes and Frances are going to draw a line under this, a fatal one. It really chills to the bone when we find out the true extent of what these ‘disappeared’ women have gone through. Within this we also learn the reality of the Depression in Kansas, and the reality of Frances’s life with a brutal father, only curbed by the presence of Stan. I was so deeply sad for Frances. Dicky and Jacks constantly talk about Frances being wise beyond her years, with surprise. It’s no wonder, she’s been through so much.
This book really is an incredible debut with brilliant historical detail and decadent 1920s feel. The gap between the rural areas of the US and and up and coming city like NYC is wide, but we also see the massive gap between NYC neighbourhoods from the Upper East Side into East Harlem. There’s a decadence here that’s evident from the parties at Jacks and Dicky’s home. These people are new money and the mix of bohemian artists, showgirls, businessmen and politicians is rife with exploitation. I was suspecting everyone of ulterior motives, wondering if anyone is untouched by the taint of money and debauchery. The wholesome and motherly Italian lady Mrs Bianchi gives an impassioned speech about leaving her homeland, only for her sons to be drunk and brawling every weekend. There’s a sense that the pinnacle of this age has been reached; this lifestyle cannot be maintained forever. By the closing chapters I was willing Frances to escape this terrible place, not unscathed of course, but at least alive and free to pursue some happiness with the person she loves. Once I’d finished, I found it hard to start a new book, because my head was firmly in NYC. My heart was still with Frances and that is always the sign of a great book.

The sense of setting in this book makes NYC the main character. Set in the 1930s the story from the start at the top of the Empire State Building pulls the reader into the story.
The story follows a young girl who arrives to live with her brother from Kansas. She is a determined and strong woman who wants more from her life and finds herself navigating the different facets of the city.
The atmospheric writing and the tension made this debut novel a great read for me.
4 stars and thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Drenched in atmosphere, taut with tension and with a ballsy young female protagonist, One Night, New York is the striking debut novel of Lara Thompson and takes place in 1930s New York. Set over the course of a freezing December night in 1932, protagonist Frances Addams and her photographer friend, Agnes, are awaiting the arrival of the man who has caused them both untold suffering at the top of the Empire Stare Building. Planning to take the ultimate revenge against one of the city’s big-hitters the pair know they have only one chance with failure carrying an unthinkable price. But to understand what is at stake and the build-up to this pivotal moment the narrative then rolls back to September 1932 and the arrival of nineteen-year-old Frances from the backwater of Hays, Kansas to live with her five years older brother, Stan, in a rundown tenement. A run on the bank has left the Addams family finances in ruins, their tyrannical father embittered and for Frances the city of New York with its diverse population and imposing skyscrapers offers previously unimaginable opportunities.

Boarding the train to New York and the first time of leaving her hometown is a baptism of fire for Frances as she meets gregarious newspaper photographer Richard ‘Dicky’ Sampson and flamboyant magazine journalist, Jacqueline ‘Jacks’ Du Montford, working together to depict middle-American young women pre and post their arrival in New York. Frances is eager to explore the big city and the opportunity to be made-up for Dicky and Jack’s proposed article but Stan forbids her from doing so or even leaving the tenement without him. Upon her arrival Frances finds that the old Stan and their easy rapport is a thing of the past and notices how much the place and the new world he is part of has changed him, with a heightened tension to their every interaction. Frances may be young, illiterate and new to the city but she is spunky, admirably determined and her unswerving love for her brother is behind every effort she makes to investigate the reason for Stan’s cagey demeanour. Stan’s friend Ben, an older black musician from the club, is equally reserved about the money he is bringing home, along with the bruises and scars. Between Stan’s harassed manner, weight loss and unwillingness to talk about his job at a nightclub Frances decides direct action is needed and sets out to uncover exactly what her older brother is mixed up in.

Far from the gauche country girl that many might assume her to be, Frances is a quick learner and in the Greenwich Village bohemian home of Dicky she meets apprentice photographer, Agnes, and forms a growing bond. Drawn together by desire and each having their own score to settle with the same man I was in awe of Frances’ willingness to carve out her own identity and shake off the limitations that a life in Kansas would have entailed. Her courage in openly entering into a same-sex relationship even in a big city was truly stirring and there is an enigmatic air to her character that I found bewitching. The vibrant atmosphere and Thompson’s portrayal of an expanding New York city is superb and much of my enjoyment of the novel came from her descriptions of a city with bribery and blackmail oiling the wheels of politics, policing and industry. As Frances’ understanding of the very different world Stan is involved in grows, it is a heart to heart with Agnes that unites them in their antipathy towards the man who has wronged both of them. As the narrative cuts back and forth between the momentous evening and events leading up to that night the tension ratchets ever higher and protagonist and heroine Frances’ seems to grow in stature before the reader’s eyes.

“One Night, New York” is the debut novel from Lara Thompson who won the Virago/The Pool New Crime Writer Award Competition with this thrilling historical novel.
“At the top of the Empire State Building on a freezing December night, two women hold their breath. Frances and Agnes are waiting for the man who has wronged them. They plan to seek the ultimate revenge.”
Set in 1932 and related over the course of one night, with flashbacks to the weeks leading up to the potential murder and Frances’ life back in Kansas, you’re truly transported to an era in America that was fascinating and informative.
There was so much to this book - a budding romance, family ties, corruption, murder, revenge, all incorporated in a coming of age detective story that draws you in from the first page, when we see Frances and Agnes at the top of the Empire State Building and just enough storyline to kick start the intrigue.
I personally don’t think I’ve ever read a more atmospheric novel set in New York, the towering skyscrapers masking the sky light, the bohemian artists, the diverse residents living in run down tenements, the jazz clubs, the mobsters with their floozies and scandalous affairs. This engrossing and addictive story played out in my mind like a film noir, starring actors from the silver screen of the 30’s like James Cagney, Edward G Robinson, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. There’s no doubting that Frances was the star of the story, she was certainly an enigma in her emotions but I found her backstory very unsettling and endeared to her immediately. Her strength and determination was admirable and together with her friend Agnes, they made a fabulous and formidable couple.
The author has obviously used her passion of stylish Hollywood crime movies and her fascination with the female photographer Bernice Abbott, who is recognised for the amazing 1930’s New York design and architectural photos she took.
For me, this was a book that was way beyond atmospheric, I actually felt a part of the story. I loved the the bohemian and unconventional artists and characters, the beautiful writing and the evocative time and place and this is a book that will stay on my shelves to be enjoyed again in the future.

An extremely well deserved 5 stars.

This is a enthralling historical fiction debut from Lara Thompson that plunges the reader into the melting pot that is 1930s New York seen through the eyes of recent arrival from remote Hays in Kansas, young Frances, to live with her older brother, Stan, in a dilapidated overcrowded tenement. Frances ran away from the dust bowl that is Kansas and home, where there is no future, the depression and the dust storms have destroyed lives, families and futures, and in addition, her family to say the least, is problematic. On the train to New York, she bumps into the glamorous and cool Jacks (Jacqueline) and photographer, Richard 'Dicky' Sampson, a well known photographer, interested in doing articles, with photographs and interviews, on her, depicting her pre-New York, the impact of moving to the big city, wearing new, exquisitely beautiful, urban clothing.

It is the character of Frances that holds centre stage, unable to read and write, wanting to learn, determined and feisty, there is much she doesn't know as a poor country girl in the big bad city, yet she can cut through to the heart of an issue, she is forbidden by her brother, Stan, to go out alone, but this will not stop her. Her curiosity and excitement takes her into dangerous and traumatic situations, having to control the fears, grief and trauma that threaten to overwhelm her. It soon becomes clear to Frances that Stan is not the brother she knew from home, he has lost weight, and he is less than forthcoming about what he does for a living, and she is surprised that he is friends with black veteran sax player, Ben, who helps improve her literacy skills. The story begins with Frances and Agnes, a photographer, at the top of the Empire State Building in December, 1932, waiting for a man that is the cause of much grief and misery, yet untouchable, with their plans of revenge. The narrative then goes back and forth in time to explain how they reached this point in their lives.

Thompson provides a scintillating sense of location and time, a New York where you can be both exposed and invisible, on the cusp of great changes, its diverse population, the distinctly different districts, the extreme inequalities, racism, sexism, sexuality and poverty, the art, the jazz clubs, the brutality and casual violence, the bribery and blackmail, grubby corrupt politicians and cops, the glamour girls, the scandals, mobsters and their molls, and the drugs trade. Through the eyes of Dicky and Agnes, who has dreams of being a great photographer, the city and its people are depicted as if through the lens of a camera, stylised, manipulated and natural, the skyscrapers that dominate, the ever diminishing skies and horizons. This is a beautifully written debut that is likely to appeal to fans of historical fiction, along with crime and mystery readers. Many thanks to Virago and Little, Brown for an ARC.