The Briar Club

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Manufacturer: Kate Quinn
Brand: Historical Fiction
Brew: Hardback
Steeping Time: 432 pages
Tea Service: Buddy Read
Strength:

Synopsis: 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?

Historical Fiction Queen, Kate Quinn, has done it again!

The entire structure of The Briar Club is an interesting one, so let’s start there. We open with a prologue. Not so strange. However, this prologue is from the perspective of Briarwood House. Not the owner or a tenant, but the actual house. I love this. It’s so different and fun, and gives such a cool introduction to this story. I was instantly hooked.

But then I was instantly worried.

Chapter one is from the viewpoint of Pete, the thirteen-year-old son of Briarwood House’s owner. We’re with Pete for the first chapter, which may not seem like much, but you’d be wrong. The chapters of The Briar Club are long, with chapter one topping out at forty pages. I struggled a little through chapter one because I didn’t connect enough with Pete to know if I could stay with him through an entire book. On top of that, I was reading in little snippets before bed and the long chapters made it hard to commit to more than a page or two at a time. It was easy to put down, knowing I wasn’t going to finish the chapter.

However, once through chapter one, I was happily met with another House interlude. At just two pages, it was the perfect pick-me-up. And when I turned to chapter two, a different narrator greeted me. Nina, this time. And thus the pattern began. Each chapter is from the perspective of a different member of the Briar Club, with a House interlude in between. It still took me a little while to warm up to the book, but about a quarter through chapter three, I couldn’t put it down.

The women of Briarwood House couldn’t be more different.

Stepping into each of their shoes was a true delight, and I enjoyed seeing them through the eyes of the other residents as well as through their own. It is such a reminder that we never truly know a person, what they’ve been through, or what drives them. Quinn’s style here is absolutely genius, especially for the setting of a boarding house. Just because you sleep in the room next door doesn’t mean you know a person.

I don’t want to get into characters too much, because it will easily spoil things, so I’ll just say that I did have a favorite. From the second she stepped onto the page, Grace drew me in. I couldn’t get enough of her, and I always wanted more. I loved everything about her character, especially her chapter. And that’s all I’ll say on that matter!

The pace of The Briar Club was on the slower side, but I liked it that way.

I wanted to soak in every detail, live through every moment, and the pace really allowed for that. We get to intimately experience life alongside each character, something The Briar Club is uniquely set up for. There’s no rush. We’re just living.

Another aspect I adored was the recipes. They are sprinkled in at the end of chapters, and they fit the characters so well. It was a fun thing to include, and I can’t wait to make a few of them! I wish we’d have read The Briar Club for our book club for one specific reason, and since we didn’t, I’ll recommend it for your book club! Have each member choose a recipe, and bring that dish along to the meeting for a Briar Club dinner of your own! Please, if anyone does this, tell me how it goes so I can live vicariously through you.

If you enjoy books centered around female characters, historical fiction, and a maze of character ties, The Briar Club should definitely be on your TBR! If you’ve already read it and adored it, get ready to be excited. The Briar Club has been optioned for a limited TV series! It’s early days and there’s no guarantee, but I’m crossing everything I’ve got so we can see these characters brought to life on the screen.

And Kate, if you’re reading this, know that I’d give ANYTHING just to read for one of these incredible characters once auditions start.

As an actor and lover of period pieces, talk about a dream role!! Gee, I wish…. (If you haven’t read my review of The Third Gilmore Girl, go check it out. The reference will make sense after that!)

Have you read The Briar Club? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about it! Want to read it for yourself? Click here to get a copy of your own.
Cheers,
Lydia