Historical Fiction · Free kit
The Briar Club
Washington, D.C., 1950. At Briarwood House, a tired all-female boardinghouse in Foggy Bottom, the boarders pass in the hall and keep their secrets. Then widow Grace March takes the attic room nobody wants, parks sun tea on the windowsill, and starts a Thursday supper club whose only cover charge is a can of food. An English war bride, a National Archives secretary, a sidelined baseball star, a Capitol Hill clerk, a Hungarian artist in exile, and a HUAC secretary fluent in Red Scare certainty become an unlikely family — while Grace hides the most dangerous secret in the house. When violence arrives at Thanksgiving, the Briar Club has to decide who the true enemy is, and what friendship is willing to cover.
“Just like people, houses go to sleep if bored.”
Complete free book club kit
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Plan your meeting
The Briar Club Hosting Guide
A free, printable-minded plan for hosting The Briar Club.
Invite hook
“What if the friend who set the table was the one with the most to hide?”
The question you’re arguing about: Would you rather be loved by a chosen family that lies for you — or live inside a respectable house where nobody would?
Shopping list
- □Black tea bags, a few mason jars, and lemon — Grace's windowsill sun tea (serve iced; brew ahead on a sunny ledge if you can)
- □Coffee, lemonade, and sparkling water for a long discussion night
- □Ginger biscuits or gingersnaps (Fliss's English offering to the single women of Briarwood)
- □Beef Swedish meatballs and toothpicks — Pete and Joe's hot-plate classic, the meal that breaks the house rules
- □A silly 1950s Jell-O salad (Arlene's infamous Red Crest energy — optional, for the brave)
- □Cheap ivy or paper-vine garland plus white paper doilies (Grace's painted briar vs. Mrs. Nilsson's parlor)
- □A few grocery-store canned goods as table props — guests can "pay admission" and you donate them after
- □Printed bingo cards and pens
Day-of timeline
- 0–10 minWelcome with sun tea or lemonade; icebreakers (found family vs. house rules)
- 10–20 minTrivia warm-up — easy questions on the mason jar, Foggy Bottom, and Thursday supper
- 20–55 minMain discussion (Grace's secret, Arlene vs. Reka, the Thanksgiving cover-up)
- 55–70 minWould You Rather or Speed Debate: Is the cover-up justice?
- 70–80 minBingo, rate the book (1–5 + one word), vote on next month
Surprise touch
Charge one canned good as admission, the way Grace does, and set the cans in the center of the table as the centerpiece. After ratings, donate them. It is cheap, instantly on-theme, and it makes everyone a member of the club before they sit down.
Wrap-up
- □Group photo with the canned-good pyramid or a mason jar of sun tea as the prop
- □Quick rating round: 1–5 stars and one word each (try not to all say "loyalty")
- □Vote on next month's book together