The Address

The Address (2017) is a historical fiction work by Fiona Davis, a bestselling author whose works feature famous New York City buildings, including The Spectacular, The Magnolia Palace, The Lions of Fifth Avenue, The Dollhouse, and The Chelsea Girls. The Address is set in the Dakota, an iconic apartment building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The text follows the lives of two female residents, living 100 years apart. Despite the century between them, their personal experiences have striking similarities, foregrounding The Resilience of Women, The Inescapability of the Past, and The Fragile Nature of Trust and Betrayal. The Address is an Indie National Bestseller, an August LibraryReads Pick, and an Indie Next Pick.

This guide refers to the 2018 Dutton paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide discuss suicidal ideation, alcohol and substance use disorders, pregnancy loss, abuse, and involuntary hospitalization. In addition, the source text uses outdated language to refer to mental health conditions and psychiatric hospitals, replicated only in quotes in this guide.

Plot Summary

Sara Smythe, the head housekeeper of a luxury hotel in 1880s London, saves a child from death, and the girl’s father, Theodore Camden, offers her a position at the Dakota, an apartment building he’s constructing in New York City. As the illegitimate child of an earl and his maid living in a rigid class structure, Sara has limited opportunities. She takes his offer. Sara journeys to New York and meets her new boss, Mr. Douglas, and her two assistants, Daisy Cavanaugh and Mrs. Haines. Sara becomes friends with Theodore, the only one of the building’s tenants in residence before its opening. He is grateful for Sara’s quick thinking under pressure, and she finds him different than other rough, entitled men.

One hundred years later, Bailey Camden completes a rehabilitation program for alcohol use disorder and asks her former employer for her old job back. He refuses, but her “cousin,” Melinda Camden, offers Bailey the chance to renovate Melinda’s Dakota apartment. Melinda will pay Bailey when she inherits her family trust in a month, and Bailey can live and work at the Dakota in the meantime. The women call each other family, but they are not blood relatives; Bailey’s grandfather, Christopher, was a ward of the family, raised alongside Melinda’s grandfather.

Bailey hates to tear out the traditional fittings in Melinda’s apartment but tries to please her fastidious friend. She reflects on her grandfather, Christopher, who left home at 15 and joined the Navy. He lived in this very apartment with the Camden family before Theodore’s murder. Bailey’s mom, Peggy, died 12 years ago when Bailey was 18. Peggy tried to maintain a relationship with Melinda’s family, but Christopher resented them and passed this grudge onto Bailey’s father, Jack. After Peggy’s death, Melinda exposed Bailey to drugs and alcohol. Kenneth Worley, another tenant, suggests that Bailey put the items she removes from Melinda’s apartment into storage, so the super, Renzo, shows her where it is.

In Sara’s timeline, opening day arrives, and she manages it deftly. The day is a success, and Theodore credits Sara, inviting her for a picnic. There, they discuss his view that America presents equal opportunities to everyone. Sara disagrees, pointing out the inequities between men and women and among the classes. Theodore invites her to the Rutherfords’ masquerade ball, where they note several of the family’s expensive possessions. After the party, Theodore tells Sara that they are misfits—she’s the daughter of an earl with no social standing and he gained social standing by marrying the daughter of a baron. They have sex. The next day, the Rutherfords report a costly knife missing. Theodore confesses his love to Sara, but she ends their romance when his family arrives.

In Bailey’s timeline, Bailey attends an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, where she sees Renzo. Melinda and her boyfriend, Tony, convince Bailey to go out with them, and she gets very drunk. The next day, she goes to the storage area and finds three trunks. One belonged to Sara Smythe, and the others to Theodore and Minnie Camden. Bailey finds a photo in Sara’s trunk of Sara with the Camden children. Renzo notes the physical similarities between Sara and Bailey. Bailey visits her father, Jack, and notices a drawing of a cottage at his house; it is labeled “for Sara” and signed by Theodore. Jack tells Bailey that his father felt rejected by the Camdens and always held a grudge. Bailey takes the drawing when she leaves.

Back in Sara’s timeline, it is a month after the Rutherfords’ ball. Sara takes the train into the city, accompanied by Daisy. She feels nauseous and realizes that her period is late. Daisy’s brother meets the train and informs them that Daisy’s mother is gravely ill. She dies before they arrive. In the following weeks, Sara learns that she’s pregnant, and Daisy offers to take her to an abortion doctor. Sara delays, and soon, she begins to feel weak, faint, and confused. Minnie Camden reports the theft of an emerald necklace, and Mr. Douglas finds it on Sara’s desk. They escort Sara to the police court, and a judge sends her to a psychiatric hospital.

In Bailey’s timeline, Bailey shows Sara’s picture to Melinda and suggests Christopher could be Sara and Theodore’s son. Melinda rejects this, but Bailey goes to the library to research Sara and Theodore. Renzo helps Bailey open Theodore’s trunk; inside, they find a leather architectural tube containing his finger bone and the sheath of the knife stolen from the Rutherfords. In Minnie’s trunk, Bailey finds a note to Christopher from his mother, claiming Theodore is his father.

In Sara’s timeline, the psychiatric hospital is horrific. When Sara defends another inmate, a nurse assaults her. When Sara eventually goes into labor, a nurse drugs her and, when she wakes, a doctor tells her that the baby died. Sara gets a cellmate, Nellie Brown. After a few days, Nellie disappears, and Sara is told that she’s being released. “Nellie Brown” turns out to be Nellie Bly, a journalist who exposes the psychiatric hospital’s awful conditions. Nellie takes Sara to a hotel and tells her that Daisy confessed to stealing Minnie Camden’s necklace. Mr. Douglas told everyone that Sara returned to England, so no one came looking for her. The next day, Nellie takes Sara to see Theodore, and he offers her a job and an apartment at the Dakota.

In Bailey’s timeline, Bailey assumes that Minnie hid the truth from Christopher and that Theodore was his father. She tells Melinda and Tony about the letter, but Melinda instructs Bailey to let it go. Melinda assumes that the trunks belong to her and confronts Renzo. Tony suggests they get the bones’ DNA tested to see if Melinda’s matches, but when Bailey asks to have her DNA tested, too, Melinda refuses.

In Sara’s timeline, Sara and Theo resume their relationship when Minnie goes upstate. Theo tells Sara that Minnie befriended a pregnant, ill woman, and when the woman died, the Camdens took in the woman’s baby, Christopher. Minnie and the children, including Christopher, return to the Dakota. Minnie’s health deteriorates and she is sent away again, so Sara begins spending more time with Theo and the children. A few weeks later, Minnie returns, and Sara recalls something that Theo once said about how it would have been a “mistake” to let her go. She wonders what he meant. She goes to the prison to see Daisy, who confesses that she tried to extort Theo, drugged Sara to induce a pregnancy loss, and resorted to theft to support her family. Sara realizes that Theo knows everything and tried to avoid a scandal by leaving her in the psychiatric hospital. She goes to find her baby’s grave and learns that he survived, and a local family took him in. The form bears Theo’s signature, prompting Sara’s realization that Christopher is her son.

In Bailey’s timeline, Bailey visits the Camden family’s financial advisor, Fred Osborne, to ask about the DNA testing. Tests can only be done on men, so she asks her father to provide a sample, but Jack refuses. A few days later, Melinda tells Bailey that Fred wants her at the meeting to discuss the results. Fred reveals that Melinda and her twin brother are not related to Theodore Camden, but Jack and Bailey are. Therefore, they inherit the entire trust. Fred also found a letter in which Minnie planned to establish an annuity for Christopher, though she died before it was done. Melinda viciously turns on Bailey.

In Sara’s timeline, Sara returns to the Dakota and confronts Minnie. Minnie says that Theo forced her to take in Christopher. They find the stolen knife in the library, and Sara confronts Theo. He admits that he stole it and says that he made a terrible mistake in letting her go. Minnie tells Sara that her twins are not Theo’s. Minnie is bitter and angry, and she stabs Theo with the Rutherfords’ knife, severing his finger. Sara sends Minnie and the children away, buries the knife across the street, and hides the sheath and finger in a leather tube. She takes the blame for Theo’s murder, ensuring Minnie remains free, as she can give Christopher a better life than Sara can.

Bailey achieves one year of sobriety. She and Renzo have waited for this milestone to begin their relationship. Now they meet in Central Park and kiss.