Fear, Female Friendship, and a Talking House: Don't Miss The Briar Club

Kate Quinn's 2024 Novel

We don't remember the fear...

People living in the early 1950s were worried about the Atom Bomb after seeing the annihilation of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. It wasn't a fleeting feeling. Instead, it was a deep worry that someone could do it to us, along with the fact that Russia was testing its own atomic bomb, that caused the paranoia. McCarthyism and "the Second Red Scare" were movements built on fear. Over decades, this specific national terror has been watered down with time and other historical events - or replaced by other fears. Seventy years later, it was, perhaps, a similar national fear after the attack of 9-11. Remembering that feeling helps set the mood for Kate Quinn's historical fiction novel, The Briar Club.

The action of The Briar Club starts in 1950 in a Washington, D.C. boarding house for women, owned by an uncaring, mean-spirited woman, Mrs. Nillson, who runs the house primarily on the back of her pre-teen son named Pete. World War II has ended, and seven women from different walks of life now occupy the rooms of The Briarwood House.

The most interesting character is Grace March, a beautiful, polished, widow woman who agrees to take the attic room, hardly bigger than a closet, because she can see its potential. It is Grace who begins to change the oppressive mood of the home with the sun tea she makes and serves to her fellow boarders. On Thursday nights when the arrogant and controlling Mrs. Nillson goes to bridge club, Grace institutes an evening meal in her little room. Using nothing but a hot plate and a lot of ingenuity, the women begin to share recipes, tell each other a little about themselves, and eventually, form some friendships.

One indication of the growing relationships is the vine that Grace, an artist, painted on her wall. Every week, the women take turns adding their own flowers to the vine, slowly growing the art into a beautiful creation.

The Cast of Characters in The Briar Club

In addition to Pete, the boy turning teenager mesmerized by the beautiful Grace and the other women under his roof, there is Lina, Pete's little sister. Lina is not a pretty little girl. She has one eye that points in an upward direction, and because of her mother's criticism, has no self-confidence.

There's Fliss, a perfectly coiffed English bride of an American doctor who is caring for her young girl while her husband is still on active duty. Bea is a tomboy who played for the Women's Baseball League until she was injured. Reka is a German Jew with Hungarian roots who immigrated when Hitler came into power. Nora Walsh is young and works at the National Archives and is in love with a man with a questionable career. Claire Hallett is a tough redhead who is Senator Margaret Chase Smith's secretary.

Of course, since every group has at least one "negative Nellie," a woman who is critical of others, focuses only on looks, and who feels superior by belittling others with caustic comments, there is Arlene, who works for HUAC, the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Intertwining, Rip-Roaring Stories

Each character has her own secrets. Some they will share. Others remain hidden. But because they exist day-to-day in close proximity to each other, bonds are formed and alliances are made. Friendships blossom and confidences are exchanged. Sometimes, sins are committed.

So many interesting angles and cultural phenomena exist in this book! While I love historical fiction, I admit I've grown a bit weary of WWII stories, so it was an absolute pleasure to be immersed in the 1950s. Even though I was born at the end of the decade, I really didn't know much about the tenor of the society, and The Briar Club was a blast to read.

From the Rosenberg Trials to the writing of Mikey Spillane and Mike Hammer, to the Women's Baseball League, the political activities of McCarthyism vs. protection of Civil Rights, to racism to criminal empires to the Pillsbury Bake-Off, readers will be drawn into the book, cheering for certain characters and booing for others.

My Favorite Part of the Book....

One reason I loved this book is because I understand the strength of female friendships that hold you up when you need help. That's what the women of the Briar Club did for each other.

My favorite line from the book is actually the dedication, which resonated to my core and left me vibrating:

"For all the women in my life who make up my Briar Club, the ones who bring each other food and wine and counsel whenever it's needed. The ones who wouldn't bat an eyelash at a corpse on the floor. You know who you are."

Don't miss this wonderful novel filled with history, music, and recipes resulting in love stories, mysteries, retribution, and redemption.

Heck! Even Briarwood House itself has a part to play, and you'll understand the definition of "Interstitial" when you're done!

The Briar Club is my first Kate Quinn novel, but it definitely won't be my last!

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