The Briar Club
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4.3 • 12 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye and The Rose Code returns with a haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, DC, boardinghouse during the McCarthy era.
Washington, D.C., 1950
Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, an all-female boarding house in the heart of the US capital, where secrets hide behind respectable facades.
But when the mysterious Grace March moves into the attic room, she draws her oddball collection of neighbours – a poised English beauty, a policeman’s daughter, a frustrated female baseball star, and a rabidly pro-McCarthy typist – into an unlikely friendship.
Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their troubled lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. And when a shocking act of violence tears the house apart, the Briar Club must decide once and for all: who is the true enemy in their midst?
Capturing the paranoia of the McCarthy era and evoking the changing roles for women in postwar America, The Briar Club is an intimate and thrilling novel of secrets and loyalty put to the test.
'This powerful, unforgettable historical romance is for fans of Mary Anna Evans's Justine Byrne series and stories with strong women characters' Starred Library Journal Review
'Compulsively readable, The Briar Club will find eager readers in those who love woman-led historical fiction with rich, appealing characters' Starred Booklist Review
'Blending suspense with themes of class struggle and female empowerment, this is a thrilling addition to Quinn's repertoire’ Glamour Magazine
Reviews
Praise for THE BRIAR CLUB:
'Blending suspense with themes of class struggle and female empowerment, this is a thrilling addition to Quinn's repertoire' Glamour Magazine
'This powerful, unforgettable historical romance is for fans of Mary Anna Evans's Justine Byrne series and stories with strong women characters' Starred Library Journal Review
'Compulsively readable, The Briar Club will find eager readers in those who love woman-led historical fiction with rich, appealing characters' Starred Booklist Review
'A Mcarthy-era caper. Quinn evocatively balances the outward cheerfulness of the 1950s with historical observations exploring racism, misogyny, homophobia and political persecution in this sharply drawn, gripping novel' People Magazine, Pick of the Week
'Blending suspense with themes of class struggle and female empowerment, this is a thrilling addition to Quinn's repertoire’ Glamour Magazine
'If you’ve never read a Kate Quinn novel, there’s no time like the present. The Briar Club is a murder mystery wrapped up in the stories of multiple women [that’s] a delightful read. Quinn creates characters readers will care about and root for' The Associated Press
Praise for Kate Quinn:
‘Recommend it to all lovers of smart historical fiction’ Booklist
‘Exciting … historical fiction fans will be riveted’ Publishers Weekly
‘Readers looking for a new and unique viewpoint of World War II with a mystery to solve and a light touch of romance will dive deep into this story’ Library Journal
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Quinn follows The Diamond Eye with a stellar historical mystery centered on a group of women living together in a Washington, D.C., boardinghouse. The action opens on Thanksgiving 1956 at Briarwood House, where a corpse lies bleeding in one of the attic apartments, the police have just arrived, and the tenants have gathered in the living room to await questioning. The narrative then rewinds four and a half years, to when widowed 30-something Grace March arrives at Briarwood. She meets Fliss, a harried new mother; Bea, a former pro baseball player; Claire, a file clerk for Sen. Margaret Chase Smith; Nora, an employee of the National Archives; and Arlene, a secretary for the House Un-American Activities Committee who's fully embraced the hysterical rhetoric of her boss, Sen. Joseph McCarthy. As the women bond, clash, and pursue various romantic entanglements, they remain committed to holding weekly dinner parties in Grace's room. As Quinn gradually steers the narrative back toward the violent opening scene, she elegantly explores issues of race, class, and gender, and brings the paranoid atmosphere of McCarthy-era Washington to vivid life. For Quinn's fans, this is a must.
Customer Reviews
The Briar Club
Excellent, enchanting, entertaining.