TBC: The struggle for personal freedom is depicted throughout the novel.

Peter learns “that his mother was sometimes utterly, meanly, completely wrong, and he didn’t have to agree with her when she was.” He didn’t have to fight her, but learned how to go around her.

Nora learns to stand up to her mother and brother, telling them to leave her alone and to keep their hands off her rent money or she will report him to the Washington Post for being of the Warring family payroll. She is also able to sever her relationship with Xavier.

Grace tells Reka to let go of whatever is poisoning her which she is able to do when she obtains her stolen sketches, but only if Mrs. Sutherland is safe and creates an escape fund for herself. Reka embraces happiness when she comes back from NY with a bob and art supplies so she can draw portraits which are her specialty.

Fliss leaves behind her act of being the perfect mother and finally tells Dan of her difficulty with Angela. She is also able to ask others in the house to help her by babysitting Angela. Before, Fliss hadn’t felt she had the right to ask for help.

Due to Bea’s injury, her baseball days are over and she has to come to terms with that. Being a PE teacher and then having to sub Home Ec is not fulfilling for Bea. Because Bea is family, Grace gets her the information to begin the process of becoming a scout for the Washington senators.

Early in her life, Claire learned that love is for suckers and nothing mattered except security. By legal and illegal means, she has saved enough for a house. Claire goes “from wanting no one, needing no one, to going down on one knee for a woman with a child in tow.” She places her bankbook in Sid’s hand and offers escape for the three of them.

It took courage for them to do what they did. I don’t know that one resonated more than another.

As Nancy summarizes, all of the characters pushed for any measure of personal freedom or self determination.

There were two categories of rigid societal norms that seemed most obvious to me. The first were norms about the role, place and subservience of women. On that one, I think of Nora, Fliss, Sydney and Bea. They were certainly not the only examples, just the most striking to me.

The second category of rigid societal norms involved the role, place and subservience of African Americans. In that case, I think of Claude and Edwin R. Murrow. Mr. Murrow’s reporting and commentary were central to bringing down Joe McCarthy but his office was a glorified closet and the office staff were free to refuse to file for him.

As far as resonating with me. I think it was Bea; not because I was ever a remotely talented baseball player. I think her story most clearly captures the idea that there were jobs and roles that simply did not exist for women or certainly not with the autonomy and recognition afforded to a man.

I went to a small women’s college. There were probably fewer than a dozen students out of 140 some who were not in nursing, education or social work. I have had an amazing career in nursing . Sill, I sometimes wonder IF I would have considered something different, in a different time or with societal expectations that women’s roles were more diverse.

Wonderful summaries and points, Nancy and Jane. I am with you, Nancy, in that no one story resonated with me more than the other, but I did appreciate the courage each character demonstrated.

I thought Nora’s story was subtly poignant. She had to ensure that her work was perfect and her character beyond reproach in the eyes of her male bosses in order to achieve career success. This double standard and “glass ceiling” is still around in present day. She also had to defy the norms of obeying her family (her brother and mother who insist she accept mistreatment to keep peace in the family). She even had to defy her own heart, recognizing the independence she wanted couldn’t be achieved if she married Xavier. Her character’s struggles touched on many of the sacrifices I think women still deal with in their personal and professional relationships in order to achieve independence. Nora and the other characters suffer for their personal freedom but like Susan and Nancy say, I admired their bravery.

Reading the Briar Club women’s struggles I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Noam Chomsky quote – “History doesn’t go in a straight line…” or Margaret Atwood’s similar quote (from her Testaments) “As they say, history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.” The struggles they have all have real-life examples and are eerily prescient for today. I didn’t have any particular favorite among the Briar women (and I’ll include Pete in there too) as I enjoyed how their stories were interwoven with each other.