Publication Date: July 2024

Synopsis:

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?

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What To Expect:

Readers can expect a 1950s historical fiction story with a large cast of characters (mainly) in one house. We get their backstory while a double murder is solved. This title features strong female MCs, LGBTQ+ characters, Russian spies, and many historical intrigues.

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Content Warnings:

Language: Moderate

Sexual Content: Closed door/fade to black with one descriptive scene of taking photos

Violence: Heavy – Domestic abuse, suggestion of rape, bullying, murder, forced prostitution

Substance Use: Moderate

Prejudices: Heavy – Racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, and also against Russians/communists

Religious Themes: None

Other Topics: Adultery, sex outside of marriage, controlling parents/neglect

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