Book Club: Monday, March 16, 5:30pm at Theos.

Posted on March 18, 2026

Monday, May 4 at 5:30 at Theos. 

Book Selection: The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

Our book club is open to anyone, members and non-members alike! If you’re interested in joining the
Book Club please contact Ann Smith, Chair,
annsmith126pa@gmail.com or the Temple Office.

Looking forward!

Synopsis:

When Emily Warren Roebling marries Captain Washington ‘Wash’ Roebling–the handsome, charming soldier of her dreams, and her brother’s dear friend and aide during the Civil War–a lifetime of family fun and happiness seems within her grasp. But then Wash accepts the position as Chief Engineer on his father’s magnum opus, the Brooklyn Bridge, and it changes both of their lives forever. In Brooklyn, the happy home they’d dreamed of warps around the bridge. Incapacitated from working in the high-pressure tanks at the bridge’s foundations, Wash convinces Emily to be his messenger to the site. Little by little, Emily finds herself taking over the project–with no formal training or education in math and science. Emily throws herself into building the bridge but faces suspicion and disparagement at every turn as she supervises dangerous construction sites and argues for the safety of the bridge amongst Manhattan’s male elite. The Engineer’s Wife delivers an emotional portrait of a woman transformed by a project of unfathomable scale, and of a husband and wife determined to build something that lasts–even at the risk of losing each other.

About the Author:

Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of Southern California, she attended Boston University, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical voice. A lifelong history buff, she has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga and two books set in the Italian Renaissance before turning to the 20th century with The Alice Network, The Huntress, The Rose Code, The Diamond Eye, and The Briar Club. The Astral Library is her first foray into magic realism. She and her husband now live in Maryland with their rescue dogs.