The Hudson Collection by Jocelyn Green

Publication June 4, 2024-Bethany House-Christian-Historical Fiction-368pp

Book Summary

Step into the beguiling world of 1926 New York and discover the power of resilience, friendship, and love from award-winning author Jocelyn Green.

Elsa Reisner’s lifelong dream of working as an ornithologist at the American Museum of Natural History is fading as the job begins to drain her passion. But fate takes an unexpected turn when she is assigned to catalog the bequest of a recently deceased patron whose Gothic country mansion holds secrets and treasures waiting to be discovered.

As Elsa delves into her task, she forms an unlikely bond with the estate’s delightful gardener and her daughter, as well as an architectural salvage dealer who still bears scars from the Great War. Together, they embark on a thrilling treasure hunt for a missing relic intended to safeguard the servants’ futures before the estate is sold. At the same time, Elsa’s body seems to betray her with new symptoms from a childhood disease that isn’t through with her yet.

With the brooding veteran and her handsome colleague joining the search, Elsa must navigate the tangled web of secrets and hidden motives along with the changing state of her health. As her deadline looms ever closer, will she be able to secure a new life for her friends before the estate slips from their grasp?

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

New York City’s Central Park and Elmhurst, a country mansion on the Hudson River, set the scene for Jocelyn Green’s The Hudson Collection.  Green’s main character, Elsa, is sent to Elmhurst from the American Museum of Natural History to catalog the vast collection of birds, recently bequeathed to the museum. She’s just in time to join the manic search of the mansion for a valuable medieval manuscript filled with illuminated bird illustrations.

This treasure hunt takes place in the fall of 1926. Green’s narrative is filled with lush descriptions of birds, garden paths at Elmhurst, and iconic Central Park. These details add extra depth to the development and growth of the relationships between Elsa, Luke Dupont, and the gardener’s daughter, young Danielle. Mother-daughter relationships, fear of limitations, and family expectations are themes explored as tension builds and Green weaves clues to the manuscript’s hiding place with obstacles and twists.

Well known NYC historical sites like Central Park, Coney Island, Nathan’s Famous, the Plaza, and the Beresford Hotel enhance the early twentieth century feel of the novel.  In contrast to the hurried Manhattan setting is the peaceful Hudson River Valley and its sprawling, fictional Elmhurst Mansion, based on the Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown, New York. (pictured below)

Green presents valuable lessons as she parallels how to handle life’s challenges with Luke’s crumbling mansions and architectural salvage business. Elsa’s important personal discovery, “doing less to make room for what really matters,” is a gem.  Jocelyn Green’s readers will be inspired by The Hudson Collection; an insightful, faith-based approach to dealing with how life’s choices and personal perspectives change through experiences and relationships.   

Fun Fact: The Eurasian Eagle-Owl that escapes from the Central Park Zoo in 1926 is based on Flaco, an eagle-owl that escaped from the zoo in 2023 as Jocelyn Green was in NYC for research!