Synopsis
A haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, D.C. boardinghouse during the McCarthy era.
Washington, D.C., 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, 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; police officer’s daughter Nora, who is entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Bea, whose career has ended 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 apart the house, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: Who is the true enemy in their midst?
Audiobook Review
6 stars
She did it again!
It’s too bad that I am on a review slump at the moment because that book deserves all the praise and I don’t know if I’ll be able to achieve that.
I am a huge fan of Kate Quinn and this book has her signature all over:
-perfect plot with twists delivered along the way;
-historical background where you can feel that the author did extensive research;
-well fleshed out characters with extremely distinctive voices;
-precise and sharp writing that grips you from the first page and doesn’t let you go before the very end.
Also if you are listening to the audiobook (with the excellent Saskia Maarleveld) I advise you to listen to the interview done by Kate and Saskia. It is extremely enlightening .
The Briar Club takes place in the US, in the fifties under McCarthy’s rule and the fear of everything that was communist.
People lived under constant threat of being accused of communist sympathies. Everyone could report a neighbor or a colleague. People suspected could lose their job at best, face death sentence at worst. That atmosphere was very well done, and added a weight to the story.
When I was talking about doing her research, it’s because every detail of that period rang true: from the baking shows to the feminine baseball league to the recipes. I was totally immersed in that time following the lives of Briarwood House’s lodgers with fascination.
But what is the Briar Club? At its heart it’s about second chances, redemption and above all else, found family.
I LOVED seeing these strangers becoming friends and family, slowly building bonds for life, all mainly thanks to Grace and her sun tea, listening ear and Thursday dinners.
Imagine a family of four, two kids with a big brother and little sister living in a big house. One day the dad leaves and the mother, a real dragon, decides to rent rooms to put butter on the bread.
The son, Pete, is sad but he is a great kid and does everything he can at thirteen to be the man of the house and please his mother, all while supporting his little sister.
The tenants coexist, just exchanging polite greeting in passing.
But that’s about to change when a Mrs Grace March enters Briarwood House and accepts the smallest accommodation possible. Thanks to her nurturing side, she will become the glue to that bunch of women from all ages and origins, helping them to form strong friendships.
Said friendships will be put to the test when a murder happens and decisions have to be made.
I told you that the characters are extremely well fleshed out so it’s time to talk about them.
-Pete, the landlady’s son is thirteen at the beginning, all blushing when meeting beautiful Grace for the first time. Trying to please his awful mother and very protective of his little sister who was bullied because of a cross eye. Pete was a sweet boy and I relished in seeing him grow and bloom under the women’s kindness.
–Nora comes from an Irish family whose every man is a cop, often a dirty one. She escaped her family and dreams to become head archivist. Ironically, she will soon fall for a gangster when she had sworn to always walk the line.
–Reka is an Hungarian war refugee, former art teacher and was robbed of everything when she arrived in the US with her late husband. Bitter and desperate she will finally find solace in the others friendship. Her story was used to uncover some unsavory side of the war refugees “business” and what some of their sponsors did.
–Fliss was our perfect English rose, mother of a small children that she is raising alone as her husband is a war doctor, living away in Korea. Her side of the story places the spotlight on the difficulties of being a perfect mother and raising a child alone while you dream of still doing the job you loved. I also appreciated the cameo to the Rose Code (my favorite Kate Quinn’s book) as Fliss is Beth’s niece!
-Then we will learn all about the women’s baseball league thanks to Bea, a very determined and independent young woman who desperately wants to live her dream even if her injury makes it all but impossible.
–Clare is a survivor and a morally grey character. She is the one you’ll warm up very slowly as she doesn’t have a lot of scruples. She is determined to reach her goal to own a house, whatever the means to reach that goal, until someone derails her future and forces her to reconsider what’s truly important.
-The last POV is Grace’s. Caring, warm and mysterious Grace. I won’t tell much about her as I don’t want to spoil the fun but Grace is truly someone incredible. You could say Kate Quinn kept the best for the end.
I read that book in record time, fascinated by these women’s lives, their hopes, desires and the obstacles they faced. I didn’t want the story to end. This is Kate Quinn at her best!
Thanks for reading.
Sophie
I can definitely tell how much you loved this book. Great review!
Thank you Sam!