The Briar Club

This historical novel by Kate Quinn had me from the first chapter. I previously read her book The Alice Network, which was also based on some actual people as well as actual events-- the reason I love historical mysteries.  This one is set in Washington D.C. in the early to mid-50's, during the height of McCarthy's "red scare" terror campaign. Several women who live in a down-at-the-heels women's boarding house are converted from strangers passing in the night to a tightly knit group of friends by the actions of one woman, Grace March. We are provided chapters from each woman's point of view with information about their histories, their dreams and their insecurities. Nobody is fully who they appear to be and the characters are ones you will cheer for--for the most part. Also the two children in the house, Pete and Lina, mistreated by their mother and apparently abandoned by their father, are taken under Grace's and then everyone else's care. We know from the beginning that a murder or two has been committed--this current situation is being narrated by the house itself--and the rest of the book provides the backstory to the present events. Wonderful characters, rich settings, and a twisty surprise at the end. Highly recommended.

Here is Publishers Weekly's summary of plot and characters: "when widowed 30-something Grace March arrives at Briarwood. She meets Fliss, a harried new mother; Bea, a former pro baseball player; Claire, a file clerk for Sen. Margaret Chase Smith; Nora, an employee of the National Archives; and Arlene, a secretary for the House Un-American Activities Committee who’s fully embraced the hysterical rhetoric of her boss, Sen. Joseph McCarthy. As the women bond, clash, and pursue various romantic entanglements, they remain committed to holding weekly dinner parties in Grace’s room. As Quinn gradually steers the narrative back toward the violent opening scene, she elegantly explores issues of race, class, and gender, and brings the paranoid atmosphere of McCarthy-era Washington to vivid life."