Audiobook review: The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
The Briar Club shares the story of multiple residents of the Briarwood House, a female boarding home located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington D.C. The story starts with the news of a murder on Thanksgiving Day in 1954, and then goes back in time between 1950 and 1954 sharing a bit about each resident with each return to the past.
While the horrendous murder gives a focus for the story, The Briar Club is more about the home’s residents. Each POV is engrossing. Not only do we learn about the person and their history/secrets, but we learn more about the turbulent times through their lenses – things like McCarthyism, woman’s health issues, segregation and racism, anti-LBGTQ rhetoric, and immigration. At times, it was difficult to hear about the prevailing attitudes of the times because it holds a mirror to what is happening in our country today.
The Briar Club is a cleverly constructed tale. “Current day,” aka Thanksgiving 1954, is shared to the listener from the POV of a somewhat neutral observer, the home. Then in backstories that progressively get closer to the day of the murder, we get a glimpse into the life of each resident, starting with the day Grace March moves into Briarwood. Throughout each POV, we see how Grace brings life and light into the all-female boarding house. How each resident learns to be their best and develop deep friendships. How close-knit friends can’t prevent tragedy, but can be there to help get through it. It’s also a coming of age story for the two Nelson children who live there with their horrible mother, the landlady Mrs. Nelson.
After each POV, the story returns to the night of the murder. And each time, I created new theories, each completely plausible, but ultimately incorrect. Quinn keeps readers in suspense by carefully avoiding the names of victims and witnesses right up until we learn what happens. It’s so brilliant and just amazing.
Narrator: The story is shared via a third person POV from several different characters. The narrator remains the same voice throughout the book, but dialogue is altered based on gender, age, and nationality. The narrator voice is almost a hush, whispering voice, calming and neutral. Maarleveld does a really good job with both the kids as well as the adults as far as making it sound of age-appropriate. She infuses each character with little things to make them unique, including slight accents when called for. The narration is superb.
Quinn provides historical notes at the end of the book, and I highly recommend listening to them but only AFTER the story or you will get spoilers. The Briar Club has dark moments, but overall, the story is uplifting and one that brings hope during these dark times.
My Ratings
Story: A
Narration: A
Jen
About the Book:
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?
Author: Kate Quinn
Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld
Series: Standalone
Genre: Historical Mystery
Audiobook Release Date: July 9, 2024
Publisher: HarperAudio
Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
Source: Received as a gift
Audio Speed: 1.35x – 1.5x
Purchase info:
Audible/Amazon (affilate link)
The Briar Club is also one of my Favorite Books!
