It’s always exciting to discover a new author and when ‘The Briar Club’ by Kate Quinn was suggested, none of us were familiar with her work.
As the book begins with a shocking murder, the implication is that it follows the usual murder mystery format. However, it’s not long before the reader gets caught up in the unwinding stories of the various characters, most of whom live in Briarwood House, an all-female boarding house in Washington DC in the early 1950s. Owned by a mean, controlling landlady, the normal equilibrium of the house is disturbed when Grace March moves into the attic room. She is able to bring the women together, while seemingly knowing what they need, yet giving nothing away about herself. Her Thursday night Briar Club suppers slowly help to create a bond between the women, while enabling the landlady’s two children to flourish in the new atmosphere.
As the plot develops, the past and present lives of its occupants are gradually revealed. The characters are vividly and sympathetically drawn and, with a chapter devoted to each one of them, the reader comes to know their innermost thoughts, hopes and fears. These flashbacks to previous years, interspersed with short sections relating to the murder, gradually bring the story to a thrilling climax on Thanksgiving Day 1954. No spoilers here, you’ll have to read the book!
Kate Quinn portrays 1950s America as being, on the one hand, the ‘golden age’ of rising prosperity and a family-orientated, unified society, but themes of bigotry, racism, misogyny, homophobia and political corruption weave persistently through the novel and often relate to real life events in America at that time.
This was a popular book with everyone in the group. We are now Kate Quinn fans and hope to read more of her books.
Louise Elsome
‘Bookworms’ Group Coordinator