The Briar Club: A Thrilling and Powerful Story of Female Friendships and Secrets

Loved it!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved that the house was a character and had “feelings” towards its occupants. I liked getting a glimpse into the day to day lives of different types of women living in the same boarding house in the 1950s. I liked the mystery of who done it and was surprised at the end, I didn’t see that coming. Witnessing the beautification of the house along with the developing friendships and recipes given throughout gave me the feeling of being part of the Briar Club. As outside characters were mentioned (Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, E. Fredric Morrow, etc ) I was quick to google them and get the historical significance of their mentions in the book. I also liked the Authors note at the end explaining the true people behind the characters, including Grace’s room (which of course I also googled). It wasn’t lost on me the parallels of US events that happened in the 1950s with events of going on today. I’ll part with words and statements from Sen. Maragret Smith’s Declaration of Conscience speech as they really resonated with me. In her speech she endorsed every American’s right to criticize, to protest, and to hold unpopular beliefs. “Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America,” she complained. “It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others."

We all enjoyed this book, most gave it an 8 or 9. It is a feel good book with a happy ending.

this was a great book! i really enjoyed the deep dive into each character (character development) it was such an interesting way to tell the story! loved the recipes!!!! i learned some things about the 50’s that i never knew. the narrator was the absolute best ever! my new favorite! i highly recommend this book.

The Briar Club opens with a murder in a Washington, D.C. boardinghouse during the height of the Red Scare. Then, the story works backward through the lives of the women who call Briarwood House home. Grace March, a mysterious widow who hosts weekly dinner parties, gradually draws together a cast of tenants carrying secrets, regrets, and ambitions of their own. Against a backdrop of McCarthy-era paranoia, the novel explores friendship, loyalty, and the ways women navigated a rapidly changing postwar America. The biggest challenge for me was staying interested long enough to care about the mystery. The novel introduces so many residents and spends so much time detailing their individual histories that the central murder plot often feels like an afterthought. Entire chapters drift into lengthy backstories, daily routines, and even full recipes being read aloud. Instead of deepening my connection to the characters, these detours made the pacing feel sluggish and left me struggling to remember who everyone was by the time the mystery returned to center stage. I also never formed a strong attachment to any of the women in Briarwood House. Each character receives significant page time, but the constant shifting between perspectives kept me at a distance. The novel clearly aims to create an interconnected portrait of female friendship and resilience. The large cast prevented any single storyline from gaining enough rope to pull me in. When the final revelations arrived, I found myself more confused than invested because I had lost track of too many details along the way. Ironically, the author's interview included at the end of the audiobook was the highlight of the experience. Hearing Quinn discuss Cold War politics, espionage, and the historical inspirations behind the novel was fascinating. Those real-world details carried far more interest for me than the fictional narrative itself. I was left thinking, "Where was this interesting storyteller the whole time?" Saskia Maarleveld delivers a competent performance and handles the large cast clearly enough. The narration occasionally mirrors the book's measured pace by becoming monotone. Her voice suited the historical setting, but the material often felt so subdued that even Saskia's strong performance struggled to hold my interest. Readers who enjoy character-driven historical fiction with multiple perspectives may find much more to appreciate here than I did. Unfortunately, I spent most of the story waiting for the murder mystery to reclaim the spotlight. By the time it did, I was no longer invested in the outcome. Pick this up if you enjoy character-driven historical fiction with a large ensemble cast, stories centered on female friendships, and slow-burn explorations of life during the McCarthy era.