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Review: In the Shadow of the Greenbrier by Emily Matchar


Blurb from Goodreads:
For fans of Pam Jenoff and Diane Chamberlain, a deeply poignant multigenerational Jewish family saga set around the iconic Greenbrier hotel, inspired by the remarkable yet little-known true events that shaped America's history.

Nestled in the hills of West Virginia lies White Sulphur Springs, home to the Greenbrier Resort. Long a playground for presidents and film stars, the Greenbrier exerts an undeniable force on the Zelner family. Over ten decades, four generations of the Zelner family—Sol, Sylvia, Doree, and Jordan—must each grapple with their place in their hometown...and their family. 

In 1942, young mother Sylvia is desperate to escape her stifling marriage, especially when it means co-running Zelner’s general store with her husband. When the Greenbrier is commandeered for use as a luxury prison, Sylvia finds her loyalties strained and her heart on the line.

Seventeen years later, Sylvia’s daughter, Doree, struggles to fit in, eagerly awaiting the day she'll leave for college and meet a nice Jewish boy. But when a handsome stranger comes to town and her brother Alan’s curiosity puts him and Sylvia at risk, Doree is torn between family and desire.

An immersive family saga rich with historical detail, In the Shadow of The Greenbrier explores the inevitable clash between the past and the future and lifts up the stories people tell to survive.
 
If you like historical fiction that follows a family through several generations, and is intertwined between the timelines, this book will be for you.  I typically don't mind such historical fiction but I didn't love this book.  It was well written and certainly an interesting topic but I had a hard time connecting to the characters.  I will say the ending was very satisfying!

In the Shadow of the Greenbrier comes out next week on March 12, 2024 and you can purchase HERE.  I've also read and reviewed historical fiction about the design/remodel of the Greenbrier HERE (which I loved!).

When the letter arrived, Jordan Barber was sitting at his desk eyeing the cuffs of his chinos, wondering if he could hem them with a stapler. If he did it from the inside out, maybe the little folded silver legs of the staples would look like fancy stitching.
A minute before, Rick Lowell from the National News desk had walked by and made a wisecrack about Jordan wearing his dad's clothes. Jordan wanted to shoot back that he was actually taller than his dad, but even he knew this was not the right way to do newsroom banter. So he just stared down at his feet, noticing how the pants puddled around the tops of his brown wing tips that had felt so sharp when his mom bought them at Hecht's the month before but now seemed too shiny, as if announcing "I'm brand-new."
All the top reporters at the Post-the ones whose names appeared above the fold, who talked about having drinks "at Ben's," who'd flown on Air Force One-dressed like they'd slept at their desks all night: rumpled oxford shirts, loafers worn down to the color and texture of cardboard. Nobody else's shoes were shiny. No one else ironed their chinos.

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