There are many books that I am going to be speed-reviewing this year, but I need to write a proper review for this book because I’ve named it one of my best reads for 2024 (and added it to my books-i-recommend shelf, which hasn’t had an addition in quite a while). With this novel, Kate Quinn is back to what I think is fine form–group of women, something happened at time point 2, we are currently at time point 3, and will flip back and forth between starting at 1 and getting to 2 and starting at 3 and moving forward with the ramifications of what happened at time point 2. This time around, there’s been a murdur and we don’t know who’s been murdered or who did it (of course) but there are enough interesting characters in the Briar House to keep us entertained while we wait.
There’s this framing mechanism of the house, which is sentient, which I could have done without. The house isn’t actually magical (not really) so it’s more one of those “the house cares about its inhabitants and is anthropomorphized” situations, but it’s a bit distracting and the handful of house digressions tend to drag relatively speaking.
This time around, we’re in the heyday of the House Un-American Activities Committee and while one villain is definitely exactly who you think it will be, there’s plenty of other villains hiding in the corners of the 1960s. Homophobia? Abusive spouses? Lack of support for female sports? Lack of opportunity for women? (Oh wait, which era are we talking about? All of them!)
In the middle of it all is the vaguely enigmatic Grace March, who is the linchpin around which the events of the book swirl. Perhaps this is a common theme of books I like–disparate characters whose lives are improved by the machinations of a confident, no f**ks given middle-aged woman. Is she a bit of a Mary Sue, perhaps? She knows exactly what to do in every situation, has the right word or flair for whomever she comes up against, and is probably a version of what I want to be when I grow up.
All in all, I enjoyed this quite a lot. Three marks of how much–
– the obvious: it’s a five star review
– the immediate: I re-read the last chapters after I finished it for the first time, because I was sad it was over!
– the giveaway: I’m already wondering when I can next re-read it