The Briar Club by Kate Quinn #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you William Morrow, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Briar Club in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the audiobook for my collection.

Publisher: William Morrow/Harper Audio

Published: July 9, 2024

 

Summary:

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?

 

My thoughts:

I’ve been a fan of Kate Quinn’s books for quite some time, so I was thrilled to get my hands on her latest, and while this was a bit different than her usual historical fiction, I still enjoyed it just the same! What was the same was the impeccable research that went into the book – just read that author’s note at the end – but make sure to read this AFTER reading the book.

I’ll be the first to admit that I have not read a lot of books set during the McCarthy Era, so I was excited to see that Quinn’s newest book was set during that time. And to find out this was a bit of a murder mystery was just icing on the cake! I loved how the murder is introduced right up front and then we go back and see what events led up to it. I found myself completely engaged with the women that lived at Briarwood House and with each chapter devoted to one woman, we really got a deep dive into their lives. This is a slower-paced book, but I didn’t mind that at all. I enjoyed getting the backstory of each woman and seeing how this group of strangers became a family.

Quinn vividly paints a picture of what life was like during the 1950s. We feel that paranoia and are able to see the changing roles of women in the postwar society. She hits on some heavy-hitting themes that make this book quite thought-provoking and it is through each of the women’s stories that we see their individual struggles that give us pause. Yes, it is easy to become wrapped up in this found-family story as each character is so richly developed, but the historical content woven in adds depth and unfortunately still resonates just a bit today.

I loved this book and highly recommend it, as I have with all of Quinn’s books.

 

Audio thoughts:

Even though I had a print copy of this book, when I saw that Saskia Maarleveld was narrating this one, I had to listen to it. She is one of my favorite audiobook narrators and has narrated most of Kate’s books. Saskia did an amazing job with this narration, giving each of the characters their own distinct voice. Plus, I loved the bonus interview with Saskia and Kate at the end!

 

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