Reviewed by Jane Tompkins This novel is supremely readable, its momentum strong and unstoppable. It’s also full of new information. New to us, that is. The narrator is a midwife in post-Revolutionary America. As readers, we have no reason to know whether she’s telling the truth, since who of us has seen the world from…
Jane is glad she read this book – it gives her food for thought.
This novel is based on a biography of the real Martha Ballard, with some changes introduced for aesthetic reasons
To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Hunting Tavern Museum in Andes, New York, fourteen local artists were invited to take on a creative challenge: make new work in response to the Anti-Rent War.
The Briar Club, a novel that makes you feel good as you read it, dramatizes something women do well that is generally acknowledged but not much looked into, namely, the ability to create an atmosphere that is safe, relaxing, and congenial that serves as a temporary home for people in need of comfort and companionship.
This novel won the 2024 International Booker Prize and is well worth reading.
