Grace of the Empire State

December 15, 2024
A young woman must work a dangerous job to save her family during the Great Depression. In June of 1930, former circus performer Grace O'Connell is lucky to have a job she loves, dancing for a show in Times Square. And while she's grieving the untimely death of her father, her family is also lucky that her twin brother, Patrick, works as a riveter on the Empire State Building. Still, they live in precarity. Their mother refuses to send their younger sibling, Connie, to the doctor for fear of the cost, though the girl suffers from a chronic lung infection. When the club Grace dances for closes suddenly, it's bad. But much worse occurs two days later when Patrick loses his footing at work, catching himself from plummeting to his death, but breaking an arm in the process. He can't work with a broken arm, and since riveters work in teams, three other men are out of jobs as well--unless Grace disguises herself as Patrick and takes his place. Tizzard does a marvelous job bringing Depression-era New York City to the page. Along with immersive descriptions of nightlife and family life, she deftly illustrates the desperation of the times and the abject lack of social safety nets. No one wants Grace to go "up on the steel"--the risk of discovery is almost as dire as the risk of death or injury. And the building gets higher every day. But the job is the only thing that stands between this family and homelessness. Several subplots come to a head around the climax of the book, and having them compressed in such a way tips things toward melodrama. But Grace is a believably complex and good-hearted heroine, and Tizzard's construction scenes are dizzyingly clear. A vibrant and heart-stopping novel.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2024
Tizzard's debut centers around Grace O'Connell, former circus performer and current professional dancer, in 1930, in the months following the Great Crash. When the shutdown of Grace's dance venue coincides with her twin brother Patrick's inability to continue work on the construction of the Empire State Building due to a broken arm, they hatch a plan with his crew to have her replace Patrick until he heals. The work is dangerous, and the risk of discovery is high. While Grace catches on quickly and is strong and reliable, accidents and near misses take their toll on the crew and their families. With the responsibility for supporting her family on her shoulders, Grace must juggle it all. Themes of love, responsibility, and duty enhance the reader's emotional investment, with plenty of historical detail to spice up the narrative. Populated by a cast of delightful supporting characters and set in a working-class milieu we don't always see in historical fiction, this is a good choice for fans of Marie Benedict, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, and Fiona Davis.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 16, 2024
In Tizzard’s page-turning debut, a dancer makes the gutsy move of taking her twin brother’s place as a riveter at the new Empire State Building construction site. It’s the beginning of the Great Depression, and the O’Connells are facing hard times after their father’s death in a shipping container accident. Their younger sister, Connie, suffers from severe asthma, and Grace loses her job when her dance hall shuts down. Things come to a head when Grace’s twin, Patrick, the family breadwinner, breaks his arm on the job. Grace’s past work as a circus tightrope walker, along with her dance skills, give her the balance and élan she needs to work on the skycraper. Patrick’s team of four are in on the subterfuge and counting on Grace to pull it off, because if one team member is injured, the whole team is out of work. Then a near tragedy occurs on the job site and Grace is faced with an ethical dilemma, in which doing the right thing would force her to reveal her identity. The plot tips into melodrama, but Tizzard evocatively depicts the workers’ camaraderie and the breathtaking dangers they face. Readers will love this tale of derring-do.