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Amazon.com: The Briar Club: A Novel (Audible Audio Edition): Kate Quinn, Saskia Maarleveld, HarperAudio: Books
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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, 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.
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Amazon.com: The Briar Club: A Novel (Audible Audio Edition): Kate Quinn, Saskia Maarleveld, HarperAudio: Books
Coneflower Books –
This story takes place after WWII in a boarding house. The boarders are all women, and the landlady has two children. The author uses chapters to focus on each woman, and we learn her back story. Slowly, the intersecting pieces of relationships begin to fit together. Two murders happen in this house, but it is not until the ending of the story that all comes together.
I loved the author’s style of writing, the depth of each character, and the way she unfolded this story.
I will be looking for more books by this author.
Amazon Customer –
I loved every character and every moment of this book. For the first very few pages, I thought it might be a bit of a “light-weight” compared to the author’s previous work, but I soon realized how wrong I was. Beautifully constructed, it sucks the reader right in to where you don’t want to put the book down. I devoured each of these characters. Their strengths and weaknesses were completely exposed and the strengths far outweighed the weaknesses. Wonderful story line, great twist at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Kate –
Great book loved the characters really well written as all of her novels are. Parts made me laugh when the thoughts of the ‘House’ were voiced – would love to have a room there! – . I noticed another review said it was completely different to previous books and had nothing in common I didn’t find that as this novel contains lots of strong women moving through life helping and some hindering other women and I have found that thread in the authors other novels including the co written ones. So do read this novel and enjoy I think its one of those books that I will read again.
Ginger Russell –
I’ve read several of Kate Quinn’s books and liked all of them. This one is a little different in that it focuses on the members of the “Briar Club” (residents of a boardinghouse in the early 50s) one at a time. They each have a different story that involves a piece of history taking place in that time period. Some of the characters are likeable and some not so much, but there are many twists and turns, and it is a difficult book to set aside. Recommended.
Beth A Mulvey –
This was my third Kate Quinn book (Alice Network, Rose Code) and it didn’t disappoint! I love that her books have unique and strong female characters! This one was no exception. I could picture the weekly Briar Supper Club gatherings like I was right there with them. And each chapter includes a recipe from a character with added commentary about how to enjoy the dish. The murder mystery kept me guessing and felt a lot like a game of Clue at times – but in all the best ways. It’s definitely a 5 star recommendation from me!
Kindle Customer –
Well written and historically accurate. The characters are all very different which makes for many good stories within the house! Oh, and the house is wonderful!
Coffee Lover –
I wrote to many friends and book club members recommending this book when I was only 1/2 way through it. My O my! I never expected the impact and intensity of the 2nd half. This book is a must read for anyone needing a release from the daily grind and for those who appreciate believable characters bound together through need and enjoyment with one another. I was so excited to find out the resolution that I read quite quickly through the last pages. I now am going back to reread. Quinn gives marvelous simile & metaphor as well as expertly crafted characters bound in a thoroughly engrossing plot.
mz johansen –
I can honestly say that I never read a book by Kate Quinn that I have not thoroughly enjoyed – and The Briar Club was certainly no exception!
A skillfully planned plot that admirably juggles many wonderfully drawn, complex, characters this book was an intriguing romp through much of the political landscape of life in early 1950’s in Washington DC. What a vibrant time that was in many ways – and yet it was also a politically fraught period when McCarthyism raised it’s ugly head, when racism was still rampant and the “Red Threat” and cold war loomed large in the headlines of the day.
The “feel-good” part to this novel is that friendships are very important as are the values of supporting and standing by those friends. It’s about the remarkable ways that we can choose to create our “family-of-the-heart” even if we lack a family-of-the-blood.
As always I will now have to wait, perhaps a bit impatiently, for this very talented author’s next wonderful book!
Desert Dweller –
Cleverly written mystery with many twists and turns. It will keep you guessing until the surprising conclusion. Loved the characters.
K A Sandford-Clisby –
Loved this. I am a big fan of Kate Quinn and this didn’t disappoint! I love her female centered stories and the different historical settings. This was based in the 50s and we encounter McCarthyism, racism and misogyny. The stories of each of the Briar Club ladies are all compelling.
I also liked the use of the house as a sort of Greek Chorus too.
Amazon Customer –
This book is very good. The characters are well written and the stories about each are very interesting. Would recommend this book to anyone.
Kathy –
I didn’t know about the degree to which McCarthy created unrest in the US post WII until I read this book. Interesting, it keeps your interest.
Christine –
Quinn is such an amazing and talented author. Her stories always transport me to a time and place which engage me while completely immersing me with her characters. She always has strong female protagonists which I appreciate.
1950-Briarwood House is an all-female boardinghouse in the heart of Washington, D.C. The ladies staying at the house all have the reasons and come from different backgrounds.
Fliss is English and a wife and mother. Nora whose gangster boyfriend could prove troublesome as her father is a police officer. Bea is a fascinating woman who used to part of the women’s baseball league. Arlene is political motivated. Grace March is the latest arrival, living in the attic. She has become the one whom everyone draws too with her dinner parties.
When violence tears the women apart they realize someone close to them could be an enemy.
A complex, thought-provoking novel about friendship in D.C at the height of the McCarthy era. Quinn is the queen of historical fiction and I always look forward to her novels. She is an auto-buy for me.