by Kate Quinn
First published 2024
Grace March arrives at Briarwood House in 1950, a shabby boardinghouse for women in Washington, D.C. The residents keep their distance from each other. Fliss presents herself as the perfect English wife and mother while hiding deep pain. Nora, a police officer's daughter, involves herself with a mysterious gangster. Bea struggles after her baseball career ended with the women's league. Arlene embraces McCarthy's anti-communist crusade with dangerous enthusiasm. Grace begins hosting dinner parties in her attic room and serving sun tea from her window. These gatherings slowly bind the women together and offer comfort from their individual struggles. But Grace carries her own dark secret. When violence shatters their fragile community, the women must identify who among them poses the real threat. The story explores how female friendship survives in an era of suspicion and fear.
Genres: domestic-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, secrets, suspense
Setting: Briarwood House, Washington, D.C.
Period: 1950
432 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow