Prompt #21 – A book that came out in a year that ends in 24

For this prompt, I chose a book that came out this year that was excited to read. I picked The Briar Club by Kate Quinn, as I have really enjoyed her previous books.

What it’s about?

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?

What I think:

I really enjoyed this book.

A group of very different women are brought together in a shared house in Washington DC. The landlady is strict and unwelcoming, but the women she rents to slowly develop strong bonds of friendship.

The book begins with a murder at the boarding house. Who has been killed and who has committed the crime are not revealed. It takes place in Grace Marsh’s room.

The story jumps back to the past with the arrival of Grace  at the boarding house. Glamorous and friendly, Grace brings all the other boards together despite their differences.

Among them are Fliss is a young mother, struggling to maintain a perfect domestic life while her husband is serving in the army. Nora works at the National Archives . Her family are all involved in the police force, yet she is falling in love with a very charming gangster. Beatrice is a former baseball player, forced out of the game because of injuries and is now a PE teacher.

Along with Reka, Claire and Arlene, the women begin to get to know and support each other. Brought together by food  and companionship, the individual stories are revealed and explored.

This book explores some really big themes – gender expectations for women the 1950s being among them, as well as Macarthyism, racism and domestic violence. The unlikely friendships are interesting and heartbreaking warming.

I really enjoyed the book. It’s definitely a character driven slow burn and some of the women’s stories are more interesting than others. It’s beautifully written. I also enjoyed the omniscient narrative voice of the house itself that comes alive as the women thrive with love and friendship.

Thank you NetGalley for the gifted copy of The Briar Code.