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The Briar Club
“Quinn evocatively balances the outward cheerfulness of the 1950s with historical observations exploring racism, misogyny, homophobia and political persecution in this sharply drawn, gripping novel.” - People Magazine
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.
A beautiful, foil cover, first edition.
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Reviews
Outstanding!
By Owlfun
A well told mystery about a historical time in American society. A great woven set of friendships and loyalties.
By book lover lady
It took a little time for me to get into it, but once I did, I couldn’t put it down. Excellent book,excellent character development, great story telling all the way through the end of the book. I didn’t want it to be finished. I want more of these lovely characters .
By millie ZZ
I loved this book so much. So many great and different characters and examples of how as friends we can all pick each other up.
By SJB1974
This book was one I could not put down. What an expertly crafted tale, weaving in the McCarthy Era, Washington politics, and age-old American sins which still permeate our culture. What a read! 5 stars!
By MessyMary2024