The Briar Club

A Novel

By: Kate Quinn

Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld

Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye and The Rose Code returns with a haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, DC, boardinghouse during the McCarthy era.

Washington, DC, 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 room, 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; policeman’s daughter Nora, who finds herself entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Beatrice, whose career has come to an end 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 the house apart, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: who is the true enemy in their midst?

Capturing the paranoia of the McCarthy era and evoking the changing roles for women in postwar America, The Briar Club is an intimate and thrilling novel of secrets and loyalty put to the test.

Includes a bonus conversation with Kate Quinn, Saskia Maarleveld, and Tessa Woodward, editor of The Briar Club.

©2024 Kate Quinn (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

History with a dash of sass

A fantastic glimpse into the ways in which our individual experiences affect us, and how a little food and conversation can bridge those gaps. The characters were fun to learn, the story mixed potent historic facts with fun character banter, but also included intrigue, romance and even frustration. A great read, as always!!

10 STARS 🙌🏼

Another unbelievably beautifully written book by Kate Quinn. And the narrator is phenomenal. A must listen book!

Excellent book!!

I loved everything about this book! The characters were interesting intriguing and well formed the story had twist and turns and kept me hooked. The narration was perfect and I could not have loved this book anymore than I already do.. I would recommend this book very highly!!

Loved the book! Love this author. Love this narrator.

The author interview at the end was such a treat!! Definitely listen to the end!

The characters and then the twist!

i have listened to all of her books and this one may be my favorite! history is great as always, but all the different characters really give this story so much depth!

It draws you in!!!

I just finished this book and it drew me in from the beginning!! My grandparents were born in the 1920's so they would have been close to the ages of some of these characters and my Dad in '49 and Mom in '53 were young children or just being born during the time in the book ....how much our society has changed since then. I could not fathom being a female at that time.... I loved this book and it will be a re read for me for sure!! Plus as I collect cookbooks and recipes a physical copy is on order as well!!! Loved The House's point of view as well !!

Loved the storyline and the narrative.

Liked the book. I listened to the interview of author and narrator at the end of the book. I feel the author should not have commented that a, “Lesser book”, won the prize for female narration and the prize should have gone to Saskia. To me, it seemed petty to denigrate another’s work.

Another Winner from Quinn

Thoroughly enjoyed this one, as I do all of Kate Quinn’s books. I hope she can find more issues to cover -women need her voice.

Another wonderful book!

Loved this book! Again Kate does a magnificent job of bringing characters to life and then connecting all their stories. I love historical fiction and I really enjoyed the era this book was set in. Narration was again perfection by Saskia! The interviews at the end were very interesting. I am already eagerly anticipating the next book collaboration! Kate, I have wrist exercises if you need them! A big thank you to you both for the hours of listening enjoyment!

Another excellent book!

Favorite narrator/favorite author both doing a stupendous job here. Love this story and couldn’t wait for it to become available! Does not disappoint! Buy it!!