The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

THE BRIAR CLUB by Kate Quinn (The Diamond Eye) is another excellent piece of historical fiction deserving its LibraryReads selection for July. Here, Quinn focuses on the inhabitants of a small Washington, D.C. boardinghouse in the 1950s and the efforts of one woman, Grace March, to create a community. Her Thursday night suppers feature a favorite recipe (e.g., Swedish Meatballs, Eight Layer Honey Cloud Cake) from one of the boarders. Chapters tend to focus on individual characters like a career-minded young women, Nora, who is being courted by a member of an organized crime family or a young mother, Fliss, who struggles with her emotions while her husband is stationed overseas. Another is an older immigrant, Reka, who loves art; plus, there is former baseball player Bea and the children (hardworking teen Pete and little sister Lina who learns to bake) of the rather strict and demanding proprietress. These “misfits” do fashion a family of sorts and pull together in surprising ways at the very end when violence strikes within the walls of Briarwood House. Quinn also offers commentary on class, on women’s rights, and on the politics – particularly McCarthy’s intimidating tactics – of the day and points to Margaret Chase Smith (Declaration of Conscience speech) as an inspiring figure. THE BRIAR CLUB received starred reviews from Booklist, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. 

The Movement by Clara Bingham

THE MOVEMENT by Clara Bingham is about “How Women's Liberation Transformed America 1963-1973.” Bingham (Witness to the Revolution) is an award-winning journalist and author. She has divided her latest text into sections that deal chronologically with events and people relevant to the women’s liberation movement. She has interviewed more than 100 women and consulted primary documents in order to write about topics like abortion, the formation of NOW, the role of Shirley Chisholm, and publication of Our Bodies, Ourselves. But there is so much more as Bingham once again cleverly utilizes contemporary voices to truly convey an important and tumultuous time in American history. THE MOVEMENT received a starred review from Publishers Weekly (“Readers will be electrified.”) and Booklist recommends it for teen researchers, saying “This provides a wealth of information for report writers presented in a uniquely accessible format.”

River East, River West by Lescure

RIVER EAST, RIVER WEST by Aube Rey Lescure is a debut novel which received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly. The basic storyline involves Alva, a 14-year-old mixed-race teen in 2007 Shanghai; her new step-father and disgruntled, almost retired businessman, Lu Fang; and the mother/wife, Sloan, who is a former minor American movie star. Each character has an interesting back story (Lu Fang and Sloane have been lovers since the mid-1980s), but their goals don’t mesh well and it may be difficult for readers to look beyond the self-centeredness that each exhibits: Alva acts out and LuFang, with some justification, still mourns the lost opportunities due to the Cultural Revolution. Everyone is unhappy; Booklist calls them “prisoners of their circumstances” while a minor character comments, “Learning to be content – that is wealth in itself.” Rey Lescure, a French-Chinese-American writer who grew up in China and France, makes several barbed references and thus introduces some political commentary, but the text moves slowly overall.  

Accountable by Dashka Slater

ACCOUNTABLE by Dashka Slater (The 57 Bus) is subtitled “The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed” and relates events that occurred in 2017 in Albany, California (liberal Bay Area) when a Korean American high school junior posted racist and misogynist memes on Instagram. Even though he initially had only 13 followers, many of the posts dealt with classmates and people they knew, especially Black and biracial girls. The New York Times recently published a lengthy article written by Slater who described, “competing narratives about how exactly the events should be interpreted, with some seeing them as a calamity that occurred despite Albany’s particular virtues (small, liberal, educated, interconnected) and others as a consequence of Albany’s particular shortcomings (too white, too insular, too wealthy, too obsessed with academic achievement).” Clearly, there is MUCH opportunity for teaching, for reflection (e.g., Am I racist? What makes someone racist? Why had no-one said anything earlier?) and for discussion (e.g., Does not taking action imply approval of content? How could the account followers and its subjects attend school together? Do the statistics Slater share correspond to our school? Are these events about race, gender or both?) with adolescent students. ACCOUNTABLE received a starred review from Booklist which says in part that this text “should be required reading for any teen before they create, comment, or even like a media post.”