The Briar Club
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4.3 • 742 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
As she did with The Diamond Eye and The Rose Code, Saskia Maarleveld’s nuanced narration brings to life every character in a Washington, DC, boardinghouse in New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn’s haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets during the McCarthy era.
Washington, DC, 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic room, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss, whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; policeman’s daughter Nora, who finds herself entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Beatrice, whose career has come to an end along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.
Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears the house apart, the Briar Club women 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.
Includes a bonus conversation with Kate Quinn, Saskia Maarleveld, and Tessa Woodward, editor of The Briar Club.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Come meet the quirky ladies of the Briarwood boarding home in this enchanting historical cozy mystery. Young Pete Nilsson thinks he’s destined to do menial tasks for his overbearing mother around their boarding house forever—until the day Grace March moves in. Through her weekly dinner parties, Grace turns the boarders from mere acquaintances to real friends who open up Pete’s world in amazing new ways. That is, until one of them is murdered on Thanksgiving. Setting the story in 1950 during the post-WWII Red Scare, Kate Quinn immerses this tale of friendship in the period’s truly paranoid history. We loved how each chapter gave us a different boarder’s perspective, with emotive and versatile narrator Saskia Maarleveld deftly revealing each of their secrets. In a delightful twist, this fascinating mystery even takes us into the “mind” of Briarwood itself, giving us the home’s unique view on each of its fascinating ladies. If you’re looking to listen to a mystery full of unforgettable characters, it’s time to cue up The Briar Club.
Customer Reviews
Great story, great characters
Enjoyed the voice
Briarwood Bonds
I enjoyed this story. It is a little slow to get started, but once I got into it, I couldn’t stop thinking about the women of Briarwood House. This time period is not often covered in works of fiction, so that makes it different. I really didn’t know much about life in the McCarthy era. Overall, it is an engaging story with excellent narration. The different voices make the characters come to life!
Captivating
I loved this book. It was warm and dramatic. It had feel good moments and shocking moments. I truly loved the characters, and the author knew we did and for the most part, ended it perfectly. My only critique is that I wanted more! This book should become a short series on Netflix.