The Briar Club: A Novel

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.

Enjoyed the book. The structure of the book made the first 100 pages difficult to follow but was able to see the significance of the structure the further I read. My book club members who listened to it found it very difficult to follow. Loved the plot twists and turns; especially enjoyed the ending!

Goodreads: The Briar Club is a historical fiction novel by Kate Quinn, set in 1950s Washington, D.C., that follows a group of women living in a boardinghouse who form an unlikely friendship. The story centers on the residents of Briarwood House, who are brought together by the mysterious widow Grace March and her weekly dinner parties. As they bond, they become a close-knit group, but a shocking act of violence forces them to confront a potential enemy within their midst, all while navigating the paranoia of the McCarthy era.

Excellent!

This book is user in the 1950s and deals with McCarthyism and the Red Scare. Five young women live together in a house run by Mrs Nilsson who has a teenage son and daughter. She runs a tight ship and no men are allowed in the building. However, when she goes to her weekly bingo games, things change. Grace starts gathering everyone together for potluck dinners. It’s not an easy task in a very small room with only a hot plate but the women make it work.
A dead body in one of the rooms brings the attention of the police. Who is it? How did he get inside? Everyone clams up and no one will admit they know anything. It is such a beguiling mystery.

Then the book goes back four years and we learn more about the women and the proprietor who runs the boarding house. There’s the mysterious and flamboyant Grace with her string of boyfriends, Fliss, a young mother with a baby who is waiting for her husband to return from the service. Nora has worked hard to educate herself and is very proud to be working at the National Archives. However she worries that her involvement with a gangster will jeopardize her job. There’s also Mrs Muller in 3A, Arlene who throws herself into the Red Scare, and later, Beatrice, a frustrated female baseball star.

Mrs Nilsson “Doilies” is a shrew and not even nice to her own children, Peter and Claire. What follows is a fascinating look at the. 1950s and the frustrations of women. They are limited in their professions, tied down by children, not allowed the freedom or ability for financial independence.