Genre: Historic Fiction/Suspense

Kate Quinn has never disappointed me - and The Briar Club might be my favorite of her novels thus far. It’s possible I say something like that after each of her new novels. Set in a boarding house (maybe I’ll become fascinated by these like I was with boarding schools and am with fancy resorts (oh, but I’m reading a book about to change that!), The Briar Club focuses on the very, very different women and children who live there. Grace, a new and rather mysterious resident, brings them all together for a meal each Thursday evening in her tiny attic room furnished with just a tiny fridge and hot plate. These disparate folks form a family of sorts. Each chapter of the book focuses on one of the house’s residents. Their individual stories come to a crescendo in a complex way illustrating the power of strong relationships even to overcome the darkest secrets.

Even though it starts with a murder - a ghastly one, I’ll admit, at first I was a bit baffled at this novel. I had come to expect certain things from Kate Quinn, in terms of history and suspense. And though surprised a bit, I loved the structure immediately. I have been recently fascinated by the short story form (thanks Sidle Creek!), so I love how Quinn creates chapters that focus on a member of the Briar club and reads much like a short story. We get to know Pete a young boy living in the house owned and operated by his single mother; Nora who loves her job in the National Archives (and maybe a gangster too), Reka an immigrant artist who is furious at what has been taken from her; Fliss who lives with her daughter there while her husband serves as a doctor in Korea, Bea who is missing her career as a professional baseball player; Claire who is working multiple jobs to earn the money for a home of her own; Arlene who works for HUAC and has been left embittered by an affair from her youth; Grace who seems maybe the most mysterious but is also the glue that holds this group together with her Thursday night gatherings, until she needs them in a big way. We meet many of their “people” along the way, learning a great deal about life just after WWII in our world. The subtlety with which Quinn builds her overarching story within these stories is creatively amazing and reflective of her extreme writing talent. I am so glad she used this format to create such an unexpected work. She concludes each chapter with a recipe based on the featured character. Quinn also used the boarding house as a character - between each chapter was a brief interlude where the house would update the reader on the murder. So many elements working so well together.

As with my recent read of Maggie Smith’s You Could Make This Place Beautiful and Jolene McIlwain’s Sidle Creek, I am struck very much by the form and its function in this work. If I were still teaching English - I’ve said that a time or two of late - I would have so much material here. I also love the illustration here of the power of friendship. In this novel, friendship alleviates loneliness, enables and supports strength and courage, quite literally saves lives, supports change. Quinn tackles mob mentality, gender equality, corruption, domestic abuse, child neglect, crime, and more. She teaches history, creating the spirit of Washington DC in the 50s - we see politics, recipes, a national baking contest. How I admire Quinn’s ability to do all of this in such an inviting, suspenseful, and entertaining way. Kate Quinn’s The Briar Club publishing on July 9 is a must read. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morris for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.