This book was fantastic and a perfect example of why Nancy Bilyeau is one of the best historical fiction writers there is. Mysterious, delightful, historically accurate, original - this book was near unputdownable. The characterization is perfect, the plot is thrilling, and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I highly recommend this book and think anyone who needs a satisfying read is in for a treat with this one!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers of "The Orchid Hour" by Nancy Bilyeau for the advanced copy of this novel.

I'll start by saying that I enjoyed this book and I think it's is an admirable addition to the wealth of historical fiction that is out in the world right now. Nancy Bilyeau brings us a historical fiction with elements of murder mystery set in prohibition New York with a focus on Italian immigrants and first generation experiences. The book follows Audenzia (Zia) De Luca, a widow with a young son who lives with her in-laws and works at a library. Zia's life is altered following the murder of a patron outside the library as she finds herself at the centre of the investigation. In the aftermath of this murder comes a second tragedy that hits closer to home and throws Zia into a personal investigation which sees her enter the nighttime world of prohibition era nightclubs.

A captivating novel with a strong female lead who grows throughout the narrative. Nancy Bilyeau hits the right balance of romance - subtle and proportional without distracting from the central storyline. I thought all the characters were nicely fleshed out and realistic, My only criticism would be that the ending was slightly rushed and lacked the feeling of danger and tension which I would have expected in a high stakes situation.

I’ve been reading Nancy Bilyeau’s work for years, going back to her original medieval trilogy featuring the young Dominican novice, Joanna Stafford. The thing Bilyeau does so well as a historical fiction author is that she immediately pulls the reader into the time frame of the story through all the sounds, sights and cadence of her character’s voices. The Orchid Hour is no exception.

As a lifetime Midwesterner now living in Chicago whose experience with New York is that of a gnat, this story opened up the fascinating world of the city’s Italian immigrant population during Prohibition for me. Admittedly, I found the early unfolding of the story a bit confusing and a little slow going as I tried to understand how everyone was connected, but in all fairness, I have no doubt much of this was because of my unfamiliarity with the Italian culture (especially back then).

As other reviewers here have recounted The Orchid Hour’s plot and characters extensively, I’ll not repeat that here. Instead add, that in besides the twists of the mystery story line, what really pulled me in was how Bilyeau, through Zia’s eyes, introduces us to the undercurrent of emotional challenges for women within a severely patriarchal and familial culture... and then, unexpectedly with great emotional courage, knowing the cost, Zia stands her ground, owns her authenticity, claiming who she really is and what she needs, against the backdrop of familial expectations, making us want to cheer her on!

While skillfully knitting all of the various elements of this story together toward its conclusion, I loved the little extraneous details Bilyeau slipped in. For example, the references to the ‘Egyptian look’ in fashion which was in a frenzy of the time owing to Carter’s 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb and the mention of her ‘signature color’ blue from her Genevieve Planché novels...which also happens to be a predominant color in the pharaonic tombs if you’ve ever traveled to Egypt.

Overall, I enjoyed The Orchid Hour and look forward with anticipation to her next book. Finally, I greatly appreciated Nancy’s inclusion of New York’s political and lawful background framing this story in her Author Notes, which only added more weight to her usual attention to historical detail. My thanks to Lume Books and Net Galley for this ARC which I volunteered to read and honestly review.

An entertaining historical mystery romp. Bilyeau has a good eye for detail and is able to capture the specific atmosphere of early 20th century New York. The plot is paced fairly well and keeps you on your toes. The only gripe I have is the prose is a bit inelegant.

I was intrigued by the cover design and the title of the book.

This was an interesting read. I thought the writing style was quite dark but elegant, and I was interested in the characters, as I thought some of them seemed enigmatic.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.

This book is, I think, loosely based on fact. How much, I’m not exactly sure. You don’t learn this until late on in the novel and I’m not going to explain why. If you know more than I do about 1920s New York, it might be obvious to you, but the anti-immigrant and prejudice shown to Italians and others is a little harrowing to read.
How much this played into the events is anyone’s guess, but I believe it was substantially. People do things at a survival level sometimes…….
The story is told in flashbacks from 1963 to 1923 and is shown from a variety of perspectives. That of widowed Zia de Luca, her cousin Salvatore, a police officer and organised criminals. All in all, this was totally fascinating and even though it was slower paced than I typically like, the detail was riveting enough to keep me hooked.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review. Honestly, this has been one of my favourite reads in quite a while.

I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by Nancy Bilyeau – her Joanna Stafford Tudor Trilogy, her two Genevieve Planché thrillers set in the world of 18th century art, and Dreamland, her novel about a Coney Island theme park – so I couldn’t wait to start reading her new book, The Orchid Hour. The setting sounded intriguing: New York’s Little Italy during the 1920s, the era of prohibition, so I was anticipating another good read.

The novel opens in 1923 and introduces us to Audenzia de Luca, known as Zia, a young Sicilian woman whose husband was killed in the Great War. Zia is trying to build a new life for herself and her son and has started working at the Seward Park branch of the New York Public Library while also helping out in her in-laws’ cheese shop in Little Italy. At work one day, she is approached by a regular visitor to the library who asks if she could translate an Italian text into English for him. Zia agrees, but before she can begin the task, the man is found shot dead outside the library.

When a second murder follows the first, a sequence of events is set in motion that leads Zia to the doors of The Orchid Hour, an elegant nightclub that also operates as a speakeasy, selling illicit alcohol in defiance of prohibition. With the police investigation into the murders going nowhere, Zia decides to do whatever she can to uncover the truth. She believes The Orchid Hour holds the key to the mystery but when she discovers that her cousin Salvatore, to whom she is very close, is mixed up with the criminal underworld, she must find a way to bring the killer – or killers – to justice without endangering her own loved ones.

This is not my favourite of Nancy Bilyeau’s books, but with such a range of plots and settings, it’s inevitable that I’ll like some of them more than others and this was still a very enjoyable novel. It was interesting to read about Zia and her family and I found that I was learning a lot about the lives of Italian immigrants in 1920s New York, the way they were treated and the type of jobs open to them, as well as the constant threat of the Society of the Black Hand, who extorted protection money from their fellow Italians. The novel also explores other issues, such as attitudes towards prohibition and why the police would sometimes turn a blind eye, and the best conditions for growing delicate orchids. Bilyeau’s Author’s Note at the end of the book describes some of her research and sources and tells us which of the characters were fictional and which were based on real people.

I found the mystery element of the book slightly less successful, particularly as several chapters are written from the perspective of one of the gangsters, so we knew who was involved in at least one of the murders right from the beginning. Still, I enjoyed this book for the historical detail and because it immersed me in a world I previously knew very little about.

New York during the very tumultuous Prohibition Era with its mobsters, flappers, bootleggers and political corruption,The orchid hour is a delicious slice of the Big Apple during the Roaring Twenties.

The adventures and misadventures of Zia DeLuca, an young Italian American war widow caught within a large spiderweb of deceit, lies, corruption, racial discriminations and murder.

A captivating noir full of unexpected twists and turns and blessed with a terrific cast of exquisitely drawn characters that offers the reader a magnificent fictional tapestry of the Great Metropolis that never sleeps!

A hugely entertaining and superbly choreographed whodunit that really deserves to be discovered and enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever!

Many thanks to Lume Books and Netgalley for this fabulous ARC!

I had a hard time getting into this one, unfortunately. I really was into the history aspect of this book, but had a hard time with the overall plot in characters. Sadly, I was a little disappointed.

The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau is a novel that takes place in NYC during the Jazz Age when Prohibition and Speakeasies were a thing. The main character is Zia De Luca, who immigrated from Sicily as a child along with her family. Her character is fictional, but in this book she is related to a family that was real, the Lucanias. And Lucky Luciano (his real name was Salvatore Lucania) is her cousin. During this time, 1920s New York City, the Sicilian community was pretty complicated. This novel captures those complexities. During this period, details of things like the bootleg trade, the narcotics, the gang rivalries between the Italians, the Jews, and the Irish, the speakeasies, and the costumes. I enjoyed the mixture of history, fact and fiction. Speakeasies were set up all over the city under the noses of the police who all appear to be in the pay of the gangsters. So crazy! This was a fun book to read.
Thank you to the publisher, Lume Books and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the history in this book more than the characters. It took awhile to follow where the story was going. I did enjoy Zia’s strength and it had a satisfying ending. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the early read in exchanged for my honest opinion.

What a book! This was emotionally satisfying and yet and wanted so much more! There’s a murderer loose and a new nightclub with many people imbibing nightly. But you must know how to enter this club, it’s not for everyone’s eyes. When more death comes Zia releases she may be caught between connecting murders. Good classic mystery that will keep you on your toes!

I just reviewed The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau. #TheOrchidHour #NetGalley

BRILLIANT! Absolutely Brilliant!

Couldn’t put this down which is why I’m doing this review at 1:35am!

There is NOTHING I don’t love about this book. The beautiful cover, the plot, the narrative…..the book hits the ground running and it doesn’t release its grip on the reader until the final word!

For me, this was the best book I’ve read in a long time and a completely new genre to what I would usually read but the author pulled it off with aplomb!

I enjoyed this novel of historical fiction. I loved Zia's strength and determination to fight for what was right, especially in such a dangerous and tumultuous time. I was shocked at the end to find out who her cousin really was in history - I'm not well versed so this was a surprise to me but may be obvious to others!

I did find it a bit slow and a little dry, but overall I enjoyed this novel.

The premise of this book was promising: New York in the 1920s, prohibition, underworld characters, a nightclub with an exclusive style. And the main character Zia, a widowed Sicilian woman who wants to solve a murder. Unfortunately the pacing wasn't balanced and events were very rushed at the end. The story has a lot of potential, but I would have loved some more details towards the end.

Still a great read for people who like the 1920s era, crime novels and movies about Al Capone,

I sped through this!! Having grown up in New York, this book transported me right back to the city streets I know (and miss!) so well - talk about a serious dose of nostalgia! Loved the heavy dose of Italian food, the detailed descriptions of orchids, and the abundance of real-life characters. It was such fun looking these characters up afterwards and learning more about their lives, and even seeing what they looked like!

I adored Zia, too. What a stellar main character. And good ole Frank, he felt very much the prototype, right down to his speech and mannerisms. There's definitely something magical about The Orchid Hour. I'll definitely recommend this to friends of mine who love New York and love historical fiction.

Thanks to Netgalley and Lume Books for allowing me an opportunity to read this book.

received an ARC copy of this book from Netgalley. But all the opinions are my own.

This was an enjoyable book to read. I enjoyed the 1920s, New York setting. It felt like a cross between The Great Gatsby and Agatha Christie. There were many times I couldn't put it down and the suspense was too much! It does have a little dark academia vibe with the libraries. I feel like this book is better going with little to no understanding of the synopsis.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this book!

Firstly, I'd like to mention how easy and nice it was to read. I like the main character Zia and the focus of this book. I wasn't really aware Italians were outcasts in New York back then? So this isn't solemnly only a fiction book, there is some truth to it as well. The beginning was very long and hard to get through and in my opinion this book didn't give me the wow effect and I didn't feel like there was a point to it all? It felt more like a diary describing daily life. This definitely is a fast and easy read, the ending a bit rushed.

The Orchid Hour is an absolutely wonderful story! You will follow Zia after she has lost her husband in war and is living with her in-laws. Zia goes through the heartache of losing two other people and goes "undercover" herself to try to solve the crimes. In the end she discovers herself and chooses to live her life apart from her in-laws so she can move on.

It felt like a lot of build up to get us yo the orchid hour, setting the scene giving back stories, all the details of why and what.
I'm not complaining, I breezed through this book. It was an easy read , the words flowed right off the pages.
An interesting slice of American history, and how the Italian were treated when they immigrated.
The family dynamics in the Italian family were also interesting to me.
Seems like I'm saying I found the book interesting.