The Briar Club

by Kate Quinn

a plate heaped with some kind of jam-filled cookies, and then the whole room was full of the Briarwood women, all gulping sun tea and munching cookies as they watched the light gleam off President Truman’s glasses.

What an american moment

Pete’s Swedish Meatballs

Xavier’s Corned Beef Hash

“You’d deny your own brother?” The hot, protective flare of the Walsh family temper.

Hello? Did we not here he already stole his sisters rent money? I hope Xavier gets him fr that

“Our people all spoke different languages and maybe still do; we look different; we live in every possible location from cities to towns, mountains to plains. But”—she waved at the Bill of Rights, including its sister documents off in the Library of Congress—“this unites us. A government established for an articulated principle, not tribal allegiances or lines drawn on a map.”

We’re the country who said, ‘Here we are; let’s live by these principles and keep getting better at living up to them.’”

Nothing wreaks havoc like a weak man—because they never learn, so they just go blithely on, leaving pain and wreckage behind them.”

Just because a man ain’t lawful don’t mean he can’t be good. And vice versa.”

Nora’s Colcannon

“I do have proof, Mam. And I don’t care if he goes to jail. So keep out of my life.”

Queen energy

“Happiness.” Grace rose, smoothing her skirt. “It’s a choice as much as anything. Or you could choose to be angry, and if you stay angry long enough, it will become comfortable, like an old robe. But eventually you’ll realize that old robe is all you’ve got, and there isn’t anything else in the wardrobe that fits. And at that point, you’re just waiting to trade the robe for a shroud—or at least, that’s what I’ve always thought.”

Reka’s Haluski

Claude’s Gumbo

hate this country sometimes.” “I love it dearly.” Grace sighed. “But we are dreadfully backward and wrongheaded in some ways.”

Fliss’s Strawberry Fool

Harland’s Fried Chicken

Bea’s Ragù

Sydney’s Fried Bananas with Bermuda Rum & Brown Sugar

Claire’s Potato Pancakes

—mature Americans can engage in conversation and controversy, the clash of ideas, with Communists anywhere in the world without becoming contaminated and converted. I believe that our faith, our conviction, our determination are stronger than theirs, and that we can compete, and successfully, not only in the area of bombs but in the area of ideas . . .

Kitty’s Medovik, Lina’s Eight-Layer Honey Cloud Cake

Kirill’s Rassolnik