in 1950 Washington D.C. live an oddball group of women in a boardinghouse. Ranging from an ex-female baseball player, young British mom, gungho McCarthy patriot, older cantankerous artist, young modern woman with a questionable boyfriend and the mysterious newcomer who shakes everything up and forms a weekly supper club called The Briar Club. We open with a mystery and then spend the rest of the book learning about each Briar Club member's past and secrets. It is a tumultuous country that is in flux with post war euphoria fighting with a fear of communism and another war looming as well as changing roles for women. This is a historical mystery filled with remarkable characters infused with a hint of danger, friendship and more than a few laughs in true Kate Quinn fashion. Just like the house itself you want to be a part of this group admiring their spunk, cheering them on and keeping their secrets. One of her very best! My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

I thought this was really well written and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I think it will find readers at our library, so we will definitely be purchasing for the collection.

“A Haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, D.C. boarding house during the McCarthy era.”

The Briar Club has a bit of everything, historical fiction, domestic drama, murder mystery, and friendship and love.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started, and I will admit that I wasn’t super invested in the first 1/4, but it definitely picked up the pace and hooked me. The characters were powerful and interesting and the dynamic of the Briarwood house was fascinating! I really enjoyed this book and I’m glad I stuck it out through the obscenely long chapters. ( they were broken up a bit with the recipes added in but seeing ‘1 hour and 36 minutes left in chapter’ on my kindle hurt my soul). By the halfway point I couldn’t put it down. This was my first and absolutely not my last Kate Quinn book. A must read for sure. Thank you William Morrow publishing and Netgalley for the ARC!

Clever idea to make the house one of the characters and use a murder as the frame story to MCCarthyism and spies in Washington, DC. This is a more unusual topic for Quinn who is dabbling in a touch of magical realism to make the house a person who narrates one of the chapters. The other women are all boarding at the Briar House when the murder happens. From mobsters, to spies, domestic abuse and lesbians who play baseball, Quinn covers many topics in this novel. I enjoyed the creativity to stitch all the characters and backstories together. However, there seems to be a bit too many people. I liked the spy story and wish that had been more of the book. I do think Quinn has a talent for making history come to life and examining past events and giving the reader a way to reflect on society.

4 stars for Kate Quinn's latest, "The Briar Club", which is set in the early 1950's in a the titular D.C. boarding house as the "Red Scare" takes off & consumes Washington. We follow eight (8) women there and each of them has a rather long chapter to themselves, and it all comes together, of course. This one is a slow burn, very character driven story and very well written with a dash of mystery to boot. I found it well worth the effort & I look forward to whatever Ms. Quinn does next! My thanks to Net Galley & the publisher for the complimentary review copy - my true pleasure to review it!

I absolutely liked this book. It was entertaining and enjoyable. Will this be an addition to my shelf for binge reading and rereading in the future? Possibly.

One of my favorite historical fiction reads of the year! WOW! You can’t help but be drawn into Kate Quinn’s majestic writing and development of characters. This one will have you from the first chapter until the very end. Please preorder this book!!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I loved this book! So interesting and captivating. The story was both historically accurate and fascinating coupled with a mystery that kept you guessing until the very end.

This gripping story from Kate Quinn had me hooked from beginning to end. I highly recommend to historical fiction and suspense lovers!

"The Briar Club" by Kate Quinn transports readers to 1950s Washington, DC, where Briarwood House, a boardinghouse, becomes the backdrop for unlikely friendships among its eclectic residents. When mysterious widow Grace March moves in, she brings together a disparate group including English beauty Fliss, policeman's daughter Nora, frustrated baseball star Beatrice, and fervent McCarthy supporter Arlene. Grace's attic-room dinner parties offer solace, but she harbors a dark secret. As violence rocks the house, the women must confront their fears and loyalties, questioning who among them is the true enemy. Quinn's novel masterfully captures the paranoia of the McCarthy era while exploring the evolving roles of women in postwar America, delivering a gripping tale of secrets and solidarity.

Kate Quinn takes on the post-WWII era! With her usual unforgettable characters and vivid descriptions, Kate Quinn again draws you in only to break your heart, then mend it back together. If I have a quibble with this book, it's only that I didn't realize where it was going in the beginning - but once you get used to the format, it all comes together very nicely. I really enjoyed this one, and I really appreciated that she gave us a historical fiction set in a time period that was NOT WWII. Will be highly recommending this one to all my historical fiction lovers, and even maybe some crossover thriller/suspense readers as well.

Kate Quinn's The Briar Club offers a captivating journey into 1950s Washington D.C., where the residents of Briarwood House, an all-female boardinghouse, navigate a world shrouded in secrets and suspicion during the McCarthy era. Through the perspectives of diverse characters such as Grace March and the boarders of Briarwood House, Quinn expertly explores themes of friendship, loyalty, and the human spirit's resilience in the face of adversity. While the novel's slow-burn narrative and large cast of characters may initially seem daunting, Quinn's meticulous research and skillful storytelling ensure that each character is fully realized and memorable, drawing readers deeper into the intricate web of intrigue and mystery. With its compelling blend of historical drama, suspense, and heartfelt emotion, The Briar Club is a must-read for fans of women's history and captivating storytelling.

I have never been disappointed by a Kate Quinn book. She creates full and rich characters and vivid settings. The Briar Club is different from her previous novels but has all the necessary components for an amazing story. It begins with a murder scene, but what follows are unique stories for each resident in the Briar house. I love how Quinn pulls the reader along on this intriguing ride using the characters and their stories to bring it all together. I thought the writing and pacing was perfect and I loved the characters, including the home itself!

4.5 stars || This book is a masterpiece of POV’s - one following after the other. You never get the full story from any singular pov but instead get to know each of the major characters in such an intimate way. The “all seeing eye” POV from the house was beautiful and such a good pace setting addition.
The found family aspect of this book had me so engaged. Each character had such depth to them that you truly felt as though you knew them.
I did not expect the twists and was utterly shocked at the conclusion.
The added recipes make the book come to life in such a fun and unique way.
Overall I really enjoyed it - my singular major complaint was the chapter length makes it a very slow read. There’s not a “let me just finish this chapter” in this book because the chapters are so incredibly long making it feel as though it’s dragging when it’s not.

I’ve never read a Kate Quinn book that I didn’t like and this is no exception. A wonderfully researched and detailed historical fiction novel with a cozy mystery feel. I loved the friendship between the women. “The Briar Club” would make a fantastic book club discussion as well! Thanks for the opportunity to read in advance!

I didn't really know what to expect with this but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Kate Quinn has a pretty distinct authorial voice.

Always a huge fan of anything Kate Quinn writes! Very fun setting, and loved the twist at the end -- definitely didn't see that coming. I'll admit that I found some of the POVs more compelling than others, but overall a great read!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher William Morrow for an advanced copy of this work of historical fiction that looks at the lives of woman sharing the same residence, the changes that are happening all around them, and the dangers and secrets that lurk among them.

Sometimes every story of a house can share a picture of the people who live there. Call it psychic emanations of joy, or contentment, even pain. There are reasons why people call houses, homes. Homes are welcome, havens in a way from the outside world. Or those nights that failed dreams and bad mistakes keep sleep away. Homes lessen the effects of these thoughts, these feelings in a way that a house can't. And when this safety is breached by either violence, or betrayal, these acts seem far worse. The Briar Club by Kate Quinn is a story about a a group of woman who have come together in one building, looking for a variety of things, but finding that the real world has a habit of intruding even in safe havens.

Washington D.C. in 1950 is a city dealing with war in Korea, race issues, and even worse, the Red Menace. The Communist threat is everywhere, the all-seeing reach of those enemies of freedom reach into every branch of government, the military, the police and even the home. No one is safe, no even the residents of the Briarwood Hose, a female-only boarding house, that has frankly seen better days. Overseen by a very rigid woman, the residents are all woman who have also seen better days, and maybe a few are on the downward slide. The rules are strong at the Briarwood, as much for the landlady as well as those who reside inside, keeping most of the people at arms length from each other, with occasional complaints about noise, or politics. Into this comes a young widow, who takes over he top floor. Grace March has secrets, but also feels that there is a need for community in her new abode. Soon March is holding small parties once a week, allowing the residents to get a little closer, learn a little more, feel a little safer. Until things start to go wrong, things are revealed and the woman of Briarwood are faced with a choice.

Kate Quinn has a real gift for writing historical fiction, putting the reader in a different time and place, and making everything seem of the time, with real characters, and even real stakes. This book features a variety of woman, ex-baseball players, mothers ,bad girl daughters and political extremists. Quinn gives them all a reason not only for their actions, but why they would come to these decisions. Quinn never info-dumps, Quinn reveals her story carefully, with details that inform about history, events, and what life was like at the time. There is much that is covered in this book, the origin of the Korean war, jazz, gangsters, baseball, politics, bad politics, race relations and much more. Yet the book never gets lost , or seem unwieldy. Quinn balances story, with the actions that were happening around the characters, and shapes a story that I think is one of her best.

A very good story to introduce new readers to Kate Quinn. An excellent story, with different characters and stakes that make sense. Fans will love it, and new readers will want more.

The Briar Club is simply perfect. Readers of Kate Quinn will enjoy the typical Quinn-ness of the story, but this book can also be a great introduction to Kate Quinn’s books or can appeal to readers that like a softer, cozier mystery. I believe this would make an excellent book club pick, too.

The story is womanhood at its best. How women behave versus men, especially near the end of the book. I thoroughly enjoyed how Quinn used each woman and her individual story to provide social commentary from the 40s/50s. Each character’s voice was clear and stood apart from the rest. Even though there were characters I connected with far more than others, they all stirred some emotions for me.

Overall, this book is excellent. I loved it all, even (or especially?) the recipes and the Briarwood House chapters. It’s a 5/5 for me! Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Briar Club (2024)
By Kate Quinn
William Morrow, 432 pages
★★★★

The Briar Club is another affirmation that Kate Quinn is one heck of a writer. In her latest novel she takes us the Washington, D.C. in the 1950s, a time of both optimism and the Red Scare. The title derives from Briarwood House, a boarding home for women. Leave it to Quinn to personify the house without making it sound hokey. The house “speaks” to readers in interstitial chapters, an important mystery-building device.

Quinn excels at characterization. Briarwood House is run by Mrs. Nilsson, who is so grumpy and rulebound that boarders nickname her “Doilies.” To say that she cuts corners does an injustice to right angles. Her husband’s absence is somewhat enigmatic, but young Pete and his maligned, cross-eyed sister Lina also live at Briarwood and are as delightful as their mother is acidic.

Quinn populates Briarwood with a cast that brings mayhem, sisterhood, and color that contrasts with the stodgy grayness of Doilies. Grace March is the first to add touches of lightness. She’s gregarious and the proverbial “pistol,” a rulebreaker who can charm with offers of sun tea. Choose your metaphor for a room-freshening project that evolves into painting vines that extend down the staircase from her fourth floor rental. When Mrs. Nilsson is absent for her weekly card game, Grace holds impromptu parties in her room that become ever-more-elaborate dinners in which each resident, Pete included, cook a specialty. You could add “by hook or crook,” as no one has a lot of money. One of the book’s more unusual features is the inclusion of recipes–from colcannon to strawberry fool–used by the Thursday night cooks.

The other core residents are Nora Walsh, Reka Muller, Felicity Orton, Beatrice Verrette, Claire Hallett, and Arlene Hupp. Quinn gives each her own chapter that provides deep background. Grace is the pivot around which most things occur, including men sneaking in and out, a no-no in Doilies’ book. Nora is there to escape from her family, including her crooked cop brother who steals from her. She works at the National Archives and finds herself pursued romantically by Xavier Bryne, who is either a gangster or a “businessman.” Reka, once Professor Muller, is a widowed Czech refugee struggling to make ends meet by shelving library books whilst grumbling over the constant bawling of Orton’s baby. (“Fliss” is English and her American doctor husband is stationed overseas.) Bea is a junior high phys. ed. teacher who pines for the days when she was a star in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. (Think A League of Their Own.) For their parts, Claire works for Senator Margaret Chase Smith, which irks Arlene, a diehard nationalist who works for the House Un-American Activities Committee and thinks Rep. Joseph McCarthy is a hero.

Count on everyone having secrets they hold close to the vest even while bonding with everyone (except the snitty Arlene). Among the things that makes Quinn an engaging writer is that she parcels out information in drips rather than rushing torrents. She also makes ancillary characters come alive, even those with mere cameos. In The Briar Club, most of those in supporting roles are male, with the notable exception of Sydney Sutherland, the wife of the social-climbing Barrett who hopes to be a communist-hunting U.S. Senator like his father. Other men who play roles in The Briar Club are Pete, Xavier, a hood named George, Nora’s male family members, jazz musician Joe and his Black friend Claude, Bob McDowell, and FBI agent Harland Adams who dates several of the Briarwood House women.

If this sounds complex, allow me to tantalize you with more: criminal gangs, Gustav Klimt, an overwhelmed mother, women trying to break the 1950s glass ceiling, stolen tomatoes, baseball, battering, forbidden love, a Betty Crocker bakeoff, Operation Longhorn, two in-house murders, spies, and a surprise ending that leads to an even more unexpected coda. All of this takes place against the Korean War and the rise and fall of McCarthyism. It is to Quinn’s credit that none of these seems labored or didactic, even when Quinn slips on occasion with a few details that seem too modern. Add splashes of humor and The Briar Club is like The Thursday Murder Club meets a satire of the 1950s, murder, espionage, and proto-feminism.
Rob Weir