Taking place in 1950s Red-scare Washington, D.C., The Briar Club follows the internal machinations of Briarwood Boarding House. Run by the stingy Mrs. Nilsson, along with her wise-beyond-his-years teenage son Pete and aspiring baker daughter Lina. There’s Grace March, enigmatic, compassionate, motherly, but holds a damning secret. Fliss, the “perfect” house mate and mom to baby Angela. Arlene, the “goody-two-shoes” who is a devotee to McCarthyism. Reka, the Hungarian artist WWII refugee. Bea, the fast-talking League of their Own gal. Nora, a balanced head on her shoulders who falls for a gangster with a heart of gold. Claire, the redhead bombshell with many jobs and many secrets.
Quinn crafts the full picture narrative by dedicating each chapter to each woman’s POV while having interlude chapters from the house’s POV, which I found very creative. The interlude chapters give piece by piece information on the climax of the story, with each woman’s chapter filling in the gaps and series of events leading up to the events that have occurred in the house POV interludes. While the chapters dedicated to each woman’s POV are long, I found myself wanting to revisit some of them to see what was going on in their lives from their perspective. As such, we don’t get clear cut answers on some threads, but rather observations and assumptions from other characters.
Readers who enjoy found family tropes will love The Briar Club. A group of women in different life stages, different views, different preferences, are pulled together by Grace’s yearning for family and love via weekly dinners (each woman’s chapter has her own recipe, including recipes by others) in her tiny room with green walls and a TV set. The women ultimately rally around one another in the face of crisis, demonstrating they are truly found family.
As an aside, I’d love to read prequels about Grace and Reka!
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