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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
A lot
A murder and its investigation; Cold War espionage danger; some historical violence
Language
Some
Moderate language; 1950s period register
Sexual Content
Some
Adult romantic relationships; some intimate content; the trauma of living closeted
Substance Use
Barely any
Moderate social drinking in a 1950s suburban setting
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Women who survive by hiding who they are, the Red Scare as a machine that destroys ordinary lives, the loyalty that forms between people who have no one else to trust
What this book is about
In 1954, Grace March is found dead in her boarding house, and her neighbors — six women who have shared pot-luck suppers and secrets for years — all have reason to have wished her gone. Kate Quinn's historical thriller unspools the story backward from the investigation through the years the women lived together: a Soviet spy, an idealist, a widow, a socialite, and others, all carrying secrets from the Red Scare era that could destroy them.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Cold War espionage and McCarthyism
a murder at the center of the ensemble
LGBTQ+ themes in a hostile historical setting
Reader Verification
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