The community can read and discuss the historical fiction book “The Briar Club” and explore its themes through related movies, plays and other events.

Jan. 14, 2026

By Christopher Clough, Green Bay Press-Gazette

A bestselling author’s most recent historical fiction book, about secrets, connections and changes in women’s roles in society found among the residents of an all-female boarding house during the Cold War years of the 1950s, will be explored in depth over the next month for the 2026 edition of Door County Reads, which kicks off Jan. 17 with an in-person visit and book signing with that author.

The book is “The Briar Club” and the author is Kate Quinn, who will appear in the auditorium at Sturgeon Bay High School at noon for her talk and book signing. Attendees are encouraged to bring a copy of their favorite Quinn book for her to sign; books also will be available for purchase from Novel Bay Booksellers at the event. For those unable to attend in person, the program will be recorded and made available on the Door County Library YouTube channel through the end of February.

Presented by the Door County Library for 19 years, Door County Reads is a winter activity that brings the community together to read and discuss one book while celebrating it with performances, writing workshops, lectures and other events related to the book and its culture.

The Friends of Door County Libraries volunteer group annually provides free copies of the selected book through the library system’s eight branches after its title is revealed in the fall. Copies also are available through the library’s catalog at Infosoup.org, as well as on the Hoopla and Libby apps in eAudiobook and eBook.

Now a resident of Maryland, Quinn has become known for her deeply researched historical fiction novels featuring female protagonists and their challenges to the perception of women’s roles in their times. She wrote a series of five such novels set in ancient Rome and two others set during the reign of the Borgia family in Renassance Italy.

Following those books, Quinn set her next historical fiction work, “The Alice Network,” among a real spy ring and real events between World War I and World War II. Published in 2017, it became a New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller, and subsequent novels by Quinn set during and in the aftermath of WWII – “The Huntress,” “The Rose Code” and “The Diamond Eye,” featuring female snipers or code breakers – also made the New York Times bestsellers lists.

Published in 2024, “The Briar Club” is set in 1950s Washington, D.C., where Cold War paranoia and the scare tactics of U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy are ramping up as a mysterious widow moves into the attic of the all-female Briarwood House. She begins to hold weekly dinner parties that form connections with several residents, but all hide deep secrets. The women include a seemingly perfect English housewife, a police officer’s daughter entangled with a dangerous gangster, a former baseball star grappling with the end of the WWII-era women’s league, and a fervent supporter of McCarthy-era politics.

“The Briar Club” is Quinn’s most recently published novel as of January 2026, but a new work by her is scheduled for publication in February, the fantasy adventure “The Astral Library.”

Door County Reads events include a number of discussions of the book with book clubs at the library system branches as well as at Novel Bay Booksellers and Write On, Door County, but other highlight events related to the book include play readings, a potluck dinner, movie showings, features on 1950s food and music, a jazz concert and discussions about 1950s history and family history. All events are free to attend and open to the public.

For more information about Door County Reads, call 920-743-6578, visit doorcountyreads.org or click on the Event Calendar tab at doorcountylibrary.org.

FYI

The 2026 Door County Reads schedule (all events free unless otherwise noted; visit doorcountyreads.org or click on the Event Calendar tab at doorcountylibrary.org for changes or updates):

Feb. 7

7:30 p.m.: Play reading

Third Avenue Playworks presents a staged reading of the Topher Payne sitcom-style comedy-drama “Perfect Arrangement,” which is set in 1950 and has two U.S. State Department employees tasked with identifying “sexual deviants” within their ranks. There’s just one thing – Bob and Norma are gay and have married each other’s partners as a cover. Opening event of TAP’s WinterWorks play reading series. Third Avenue Playworks, 239 N. Third Ave., Sturgeon Bay. 920-743-1760 or thirdavenueplayworks.org.