The Briar Club | Kate Quinn

I really like Kate Quinn's books. I think The Rose Code and The Alice Network are my favorites, but I'm a real sucker for a good historical novel (especially good World War II novel in case you haven't noticed) and The Briar Club, set in 1950s Washington DC, is a great addition to the canon of Quinn.

The story builds slowly as we learn about the women who live in a boarding house, run by a just this side of slumlord, landlady. It's a character-driven novel and pieces start to come together as Quinn digs more into each character's history. The ending isn't exactly a twist but it's a close. Recall that this is the age of the Red Scare, and we're in Washington DC. It is a slow burn kind of book so while there's aspects of a thriller, it's not a racing-heart-plot kind of story.

I've read a boatload of historical fiction but I don't recall much set in the 1950s, so this was really interesting. Recommended both for the author and the book.