Quick and Dirty
-multi-POV historical fiction
-an intergenerational story told from the female perspective
-Coming-of-age themes
-mysterious, fast-paced family drama

What Worked
I honestly didn’t know what to expect from this novel, but I don’t think I could have predicted enjoying it as much as I did. The characters, even the hard-to-love few, were so well developed and the inter-woven tapestry of stories made this novel very compelling and hard to put down at times. I needed to know what was happening next to this family who struggled so much yet lived so beautifully. I especially enjoyed Doree’s story both in her past and present. But overall what I enjoyed the most was the authentic pain and emotion the author conjured in each of the character stories. This one felt heavy and full of urgency, which kept me captivated. What an incredible debut!!

What Didn’t Work
There wasn’t much that didn’t work for me in this book. It felt like a great combination of family drama, political intrigue, and coming-of-age. I really loved the way the author carefully incorporated so much about the Jewish culture and values, which helped give so much added context to the drama. I would have liked a bit more about Alan in the story, but I think that’s a personal preference.

Read This If
Anyone looking for a Jewish family saga will not want to miss this one. It’s a quiet but powerful story of inclusion, perseverance, and humanity.

One of my favorite books of the year so far. I quickly became invested in tying together Sol, Sylvia, Doree and Jordan as they were introduced in different time periods and although each of their personal stories heavily carried me page to page, the mysteries began to unfold left and right!

I’m sometimes overwhelmed by too many plot lines but Matchar is so delicate with the pace and amount she unloads at any point. Fantastic storytelling in that I felt I understood each character, their struggles and I truly felt sympathy for each of them, moreso heartache.

There are layers of tragedy in this and Matchar rolls out such a smooth, caring telling.

There’s one character I haven’t even mentioned yet- The Greenbrier. Wow!!! I immediately was hooked on this place and googling it and Dorothy Draper like crazy! If you’re into history-you’ll want to dive into this and segue into Greenbrier history afterwards.

A beautiful story of the brokenness of family, responsibility over loved ones and the mysteries close to home.

Alright so spoiler alert (sort of?) the Greenbrier is a hotel. A massive hotel that basically supports a small town in West Virginia. There's a big ol' mystery about why they're building such a deep whole near it and what the purpose of it is. In order to tell the entire story, the author provides four different pov's, some of which I found to be entirely unnecessary.

Sol: Sol is a Jewish man who escapes Tsar-Russian military to come to America. He's the first-generation in the family and he founds a general store in West Virgina. Once it opens and he and his wife Pauline are settled, he his store set on fire unless he pays a townie off. Everyone in the family works at the general store that the town calls "the Jew store"....cuuute! *insert eye roll*

Sylvia: Sylvia is a Polish Jewish girl who escapes WWII and comes to America with her father, while her mother and brothers are in Tel Aviv. She has another brother who was killed during the war. Upon arrival her father passes away and she meets Louis in the city. He convinces her to get married and drags her off to West Virginia. She absolutely hates her life and is depressed the entire book.

Doree: Doree or Doreen is the daughter of Sylvia. She's caught up in the times of the 1950's and is struggling to contain her siblings as well as her frustration with her family. Her thoughts are mixed up in boys, college, and her brother Alan's misgivings. After her brother is beaten by the neighborhood boys, an "incident" happens and she and her other brother Pete never speak of it ever again.

Jordan: Jordan is the son of Doree and is the ending of the pov's. We're now in the 1990's and he's working for The Washington Post. He receives an annoymous letter in the mail about the Greenbrier and he's finally ready to uncover his family's secrets. He's ready to find out what lies beneath the hotel and what his mother has been hiding his entire life.

As you can see, this was shown as a mystery, but really it's historical lit. I did not understand the point of Sol's pov. Most of it was very boring and it didn't add to the story for me. I can't really recommend this one because it's a long book that half of it could've been deleted and it wouldn't have changed a thing.

In the Shadow of the Greenbrier by Emily Matchar was a 4 star book. Her characters were well developed and I enjoyed the facts connected to the Greenbrier. She did a nice job of weaving the characters, storyline, and setting together.

4/5 stars.

I am so intrigued by the Greenbrier and its history that this book immediately appealed to me, but there is a much richer story between the pages.

In the Shadow of the Greenbrier features multiple narrators from the same family at different points in their lives. There is Sol, a young Jewish immigrant trying to make his way in America and find the life he has dreamed of for so long. Then there is Sylvia, who is married to Sol's son but isn't in love with him. She is a young mother but only wants to go to Palestine to reunite with her family. We also meet Doree, Sylvia's daughter, who as a young woman is looking toward what her future holds and what she wants for her life. Finally, there is Jordan, who has just started working as a reporter when he receives a tip to look more closely into the Greenbrier and its history. All the members of the family have some tie to the Greenbrier through the years so Jordan is hopeful to learn more about what might be hidden there.

The author makes every character's story come to life and the pacing is spot on. I enjoyed the family dynamics as well as the suspense as to how the story would unfold. This book filled my desire for learning a little more about the Greenbrier while also enjoying the multiple generation narrative that took place.

I received this book courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The novel is a deeply touching Jewish family saga set around the famous Greenbrier hotel, inspired by the remarkable yet little-known true events that shaped America's history. It covers four generations of the Zelner family over ten decades. The novel shows the reader the hardships faced by the Zelner’s family in rural America. the Zelners must contend with antisemitism, poverty, and painful secrets in a small, isolated, and often hostile community. Sol starts his life in America as a door-to-door peddler. Next opens a general store in the shadow of the hotel. His daughter-in-law, Sylvia is a resentful immigrant from Poland. She misses the finer things in life. She ends up working at the hotel during World War II, when it becomes a luxurious camp for German and Italian diplomats. Sylvia then has (an affair with one of the latter tempts her. Later, her daughter, Doree, embarks on a romance with a mysterious man working at the hotel while Sylvia’s son, Alan, is convinced there’s a conspiracy behind some new construction there. In the 1990s, Doree’s son, Jordan, a Washington Post reporter, sets out to uncover the truth. What is the truth?

Some of the the series of events that happen in the novel more compelling than others. The novel is about antisemitism, family secrets, and Jewish life in rural America. It is rich in historical detail. I liked that as I enjoy learning about history that is often not mentioned in school. It shows the extraordinary moments in everyday life. It is well written and an interesting time period. The ending of this Noel was very satisfying.

What an amazing read! In the light of Kristin Hannah and The Nightingale this is one for Historical Fiction fans!
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This is a story of a multigenerational family and their immigration to the states. Through different family members eyes a wonderful story is weaved of trials, tribulations and secrets.

What a beautiful debut! A must read.

This is my first book by this author which I enjoyed reading. I look forward to seeing what is next for this author. I enjoyed how I was pulled into the story from the start by the characters. They are connectable and relateable. They add so much to the story's entertainment value as well as made it easy to read. This is a well written story this is historical which brings the past and the present together. What happens in this story you don't want to miss. This is a fast paced, hard to put down story. The author used details to make the story come to life. There is great growth throughout of the plot as well as the characters. I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it.

This historical novel alternates between four characters from the same family, each in a different time period. Jordan, in 1992, is a young journalist who gets a tip for a potential story about something unusual going on at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia, which he knows played a part in his family’s somewhat mysterious history. In 1959, we get the viewpoint of 16 year old Doree (who later in life will be Jordan’s mother), during an eventful year during which her brother Alan becomes obsessed with construction at the Greenbrier. In 1942, it’s Sylvia, Doree’s mother, a very unhappy woman living in the town with the Greenbrier after fleeing Poland for America and marrying a man who lives there. And in just a few flashback chapters, there is Sol in the early 1900s (who later will be Sylvia’s father in law and Doree’s grandfather), who comes to the US from Lithuania and becomes a traveling peddler before opening a store in the West Virginia town where he is the only Jewish person.

I really enjoyed this one - it was an interesting and different story and setting. I also love a novel about the Jewish experience that is not about the Holocaust. Yes, Sylvia has fled Poland and worries about her brothers who are still there - but first and foremost the book is about the experience of this Jewish family in America, with some aspects of the book about their Jewishness and others just about the mystery of what is going on at the Greenbrier and what happened to Sylvia and Alan. Basically, it’s a book with a little history, a little mystery, a little romance, and a little family drama - very much my type of book.

An interesting four-generational family drama, each with strong ties to the historical Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia. The story begins with Sol, an immigrant from war-torn Poland, who gets a job as a peddler - which brings him to both the landscape of Virginia and his future wife. Their son Louis marries young Sylvia and they stay with his parents and work at the family store. But Sylvia has other aspirations, and her decisions guide the trajectory of the rest of the family and their stories. Their daughter Doree and son Alan carry the story forward into finding truths and secrets that put their lives in danger. And while Doree hopes to live with these secrets, her journalist son, Jordan, receives a note that pulls him back into the Greenbrier Resort to find the truth about the Resort and his family. The stories of each generation play out in their own chapters until the stories intertwine into the current generation's drive to get the truth from both the Greenbrier and Doree. Even when the reader feels the ending is what they know will happen, there is a little bit of another secret that peaks through... that Doree does not share. An interesting read with some historical information about the Greenbrier Resort that is probably not well known. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group, Putnam for the opportunity to read and review this advance reader copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #NetGalley #IntheShadowoftheGreenbrier

I was provided a free advanced copy of this book by @netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
This is a family drama spanning four generations of a Jewish family whose lives are focused around The Greenbrier in West Virginia. Sol sets up a general store in White Sulphur Springs, near the famed resort as a way to settle in the US. His daughter-in-law, Sylvia, struggles with life in the remote mountains, and even more so when the Greenbrier is used as a luxury prison for diplomats during WWII. Sixteen years later, her daughter, Doreen, tries to figure out who she will be after graduation and getting out from under her parents house. Years later her son ventures back to uncover long held secrets of the Greenbrier.
I had no idea about The Greenbrier before I read this book. As many WWII fiction books as I've read I never heard about or considered how the US handled foreign enemy diplomats that were here. The story focused more on Sylvia and Doree, but we got snippets of stories from each timeline. From the very first few chapters I was hooked and wanted to know more about these characters. I did feel the ending was a bit of a let down, which lost a star for me, but not so much that I didn't enjoy the book as a whole.
If you like family dramas, or historical fiction this will be a good pick. Luckily for you it was published today, so you can go ahead and order it!
#NetGalley #InTheShadowOfTheGreenbrier

I enjoyed In the Shadow of the Greenbrier by Emily Matchar, and wish to thank her, G.P. Putnam's Sons and Penquin Group Publishing for the opportunity to read and review an Advanced Reader Copy. My review is voluntary, and reflects my honest feedback.. In the Shadow of the Greenbrier begins in 1992 when Jordon Barber a young journalist for the Washington Post receives an anonymous letter stating that there is something under the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and that it was time for people to know about it. Interestingly, Jordan remembers his mother vaguely talking about a deep hole there when she was a teen. Apparently her brother Alan, who today may have been diagnosed with autism, was fascinated with the work being done and was convinced it had something to do with national security, however whenever pressed for more information about it and her family she would clam up and become upset.
As the story goes on the reader meets Jordan's mom, Doreen, telling her story from the perspective of a teenager in the late 1950s, and Sylvia, Doreen's mom, who came to America from Poland in the early 1940s. Sylvia was unhappy in her marriage and with her life circumstances, as such she appears to be a cold and uncaring woman. Sol' Zelner's story begins in 1911, when as a young man he comes to America, starts a career as a traveling salesman and eventually opens a general store of sorts in White Sulphur Springs. Sol is the husband of Pauline, father-in-law of Sylvia and grandfather of Doreen..The Zelner family are the only Jewish people in White Sulphur Springs. As the story proceeds the reader learns that they all have secrets, some more intense and damaging than others.
In the Shadow of the Greenbrier is a work of fiction, however the author has based the story on events that did take place at the Greenbrier Resort. German and Italian diplomats and their families were detained at the resort in the early 1940s to prevent them from actively supporting the Nazis. The Greenbrier Bunker was a secret relocation facility, started in 1958 for members of Congress during war if needed. It was completed in 1961, and secretly operated by a group of employees the locals thought were TV repairmen for the hotel,.
I hope my review has left you wanting to know more. In the Shadow of the Greenbrier is a compelling fact-based and intriguing novel with very realistic characters,. The beginning was a tad slow for me, however the pace quickened and then I couldn't put it down,; it's an extremely satisfying read. 4stars.

This review appeared in the Saturday/Sunday March 9-10, 2024 edition of the Charleston (WV) Gazette Mail

Deep in the West Virginia hills, in the town of White Sulphur Springs, four generations of the Zelnar family have battled to live, love, survive and thrive, all with the storied hotel, the Greenbrier, as a backdrop to their family stories: “A palace as large and white and splendid as anything in [the] history books, sitting tall on a gentle rise in the valley floor, the dark ridgeline of the Alleghenies its backdrop.” During the time the family called White Sulphur Springs home they were the only Jewish family who lived there.

First came Sol who was 17 in 1909 when he fled Lithuania after being called up for the tsar’s army. His mother had saved for this day and sent him to America with all the family’s riches and his father’s watch. He landed not at Ellis Island but in Baltimore and became a peddler, supplying good to homes in the southeastern United States (with no English at all.) This eventually led him to White Sulphur Springs where he opened what would become the family store, Zelnar’s Low Price Store, in 1911. They sold everything and they were the only store in town that would also serve Black customers. At this same time the Greenbrier was being expanded into the hotel that exists today.

Sol had a son, Louis, who married Sylvia, from Łódź, Poland. It is now World War II. Louis and Sylvia are living with their in-laws and their baby daughter. Things are not easy for Sylvia. She was raised in a cosmopolitan city and now she’s in a backwater and there’s a war on. The Greenbrier is being used as a luxury prison to detain German, Hungarian, Bulgarian and Italian diplomats and their families. Sylvia wants nothing to do with them, but her skills as a seamstress put her in high demand and she becomes entangled against her will.

Sylvia’s baby daughter is Doree. It’s now 1958, and Doree and her brothers are just trying to fit in (which is a bit difficult for her brother Alan; something mysterious is going on at the Greenbrier and he’s incredibly curious as to what it is.) Doree’s fondest desire is to go to West Virginia University or Fairmont State and to meet a nice Jewish boy to marry. Doree has a bit of an inferiority complex about her home and notes “when people heard she was from West Virginia and raised their eyebrows a little - a look that said they were thinking of tar paper shacks and toothless snake handlers and black lung - Doree wished she could walk them through the Greenbrier resort in the winter of 1958” with “the acres of lawns as pampered as a starlet’s hair. The fleet of bottle-green Rolls Royces. The dining room so big, waiters used to ride horses through it.”

During Doree’s senior year a stranger comes to town and changes both Doree and Alan’s lives.

Then it’s 1992. Jordan Barber is a new reporter at the Washington Post. He receives an anonymous tip about a big story to be had in White Sulphur Springs - his mother, Doree’s hometown. He pitches the story to his editors and he’s off to southeastern West Virginia to investigate (not-so-spoiler alert: I don’t think I’m giving anything away when I hint at what is going on at the Greenbrier in 1958 that Alan was so curious about and what Jordan’s hot tip is about, right?)

And perhaps the Dorothy Draper styled rooms aren’t for everyone as the author notes, “all the greens and florals made Jordan feel like he was inside one of those Easter baskets with the fake grass they sold at Rite Aid.” However, even Jordan, who is only one generation removed from living in West Virginia himself, has this uncharitable view of people from the area, “people from grim little Appalachian towns like White Sulphur Springs ought to be odd in either charming or sinister ways, like something out of a Faulkner novel.”

How incredibly lonely it must have been, to be the only Jewish family in White Sulphur Springs. There is mention of.a synagogue in Beckley, but to have no one with whom to share your prayers, your feast days, how very isolating. To marry another Jew one must look outside the community. And the horror of the war years. Poor Sylvia, having to consort with Germans and Italians, all while knowing what was being done to Jews in Europe. It’s unimaginable.

Those who lament the lost Mobil star of the Greenbrier today will find a lot to love here as Matchar recalls its heyday while acknowledging the fact that White Sulphur Springs has long been a “company town” - for generations many of its residents have been employed by the Greenbrier (though not the Zelnars.). “Bluefield and Welch will be in trouble when the coal mines play out…but we’ve got the Greenbrier,” and this has proven prescient as those towns have suffered while White Sulphur is seeing a resurgence,

The book is a fond look back while bringing a new dimension to understanding the area around the Greenbrier.

Coming from West Virginia, I found this book very poignant. The description of The Greenbrier and the area made me feel as if I were there. The loneliness of a small rural area was captured well. The treatment of immigrants and minorities was painful. The opulence of The Greenbrier shone as it does. It is the story of a Jewish family, the only Jewish family in White Sulphur Springs from Sol in 1909 to Jordan in 1992. Sol, after a rocky start, opens a store selling a little bit of everything. His son Louis keeps it going. Louis marries Sylvia right after her father dies, more out of convenience than love. Sylvia came from a cosmopolitan area of Poland and hated the rural area she found herself in. Their daughter Doree grows up in the shadow of The Greenbrier at a time when some strange construction is happening there. Her son Jordan, a journalist from the Washington Post, breaks open the story of that construction 35 years later. The events in this book did indeed happen. We know now that the construction was a bunker to save Congress in the event of nuclear war. You can even tour it now. The author's descriptions of the bunker were excellent. She showed that the townspeople were not ignorant and they did have an idea of what was going on, it just wasn't their business. The Greenbrier was the largest employer in the area so it behooved them to keep their mouths shut. How a construction of that immensity was kept secret for all those years amazes me. This is a good rendering of the history of that area of West Virginia, be it happy or sad, and I thank the author for that. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and I am happily reviewing it voluntarily.

Wow, this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it did not disappoint!! The Jewish rep was fantastic, the character development was extremely well thought out, and the story itself was so compelling. Will recommend highly!

In the Shadow of the Greenbrier by Emily Matchar is a well-written and immersive story that any historical fiction fans are going love reading this one.
I enjoyed this fantastic book which kept me enthralled all the way through. I couldn't put it down and now I'm sad it’s over. I love books like this one as they are so interesting.

Thank You Edelweiss and G.P. Putnam's Sons for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I didn't know anything about the Greenbrier until reading Joy Calloway's "The Grand Design" about Dorothy Draper and the hotel. Since then, I've been intrigued by the Greenbrier history and Dorothy Draper. I loved that this book mentioned her and her designs!

This book follows three generations of women in a Jewish family - alternating chapters for each of the women. Their stories are so involved and well written, I felt like I was right there beside them. I enjoyed getting to know the main characters and the townsfolk - everything was so well crafted and the stories blended perfectly. It's a really enjoyable read!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

With a deep love for historical fiction I will try any book from any time period in the hopes of learning and expanding my knowledge of the past. The Greenbrier, a real and fancy hotel in West Virginia, was new and intriguing.

I found it to be an interesting story overall but for some reason the four different POV’s were harder to connect to until halfway through. I usually don’t struggle with multiple points-of-view but this one felt like the stories disconnected for longer than expected making it harder to connect with the characters. By 50% I did find myself engrossed in the story and rooting for each person as they traversed life. It just took a bit to get into it.

I buddy read this with a friend and she pointed out how reading it in large amounts would have made it easier to keep straight. I totally agree with that and wished I’d had the time to just sit and binge and feel the full force of all these characters lives connecting.

Thank you Penguin Group Putnam for the arc via Netgalley!

A thoroughly enjoyable read about something I truly knew nothing about. The book gave me a glimpse into the history behind the Greenbrier hotel and, as a result, I am hoping to visit the next time we are in the area and book a tour of the bunker. Because this was based on history, I was able to spoiler things for myself, but I truly tried not to so that I could get into the story and be as struck by the ultimate reveal as the main characters were. In the end, while the book did include the bunker, most of the story was about the three characters in the Zelner family history and their secrets. I have to admit that I expected things to happen and, in a lot of ways, there were no surprises until there were. No spoilers though.

The story is well written. It moves along at a good pace. The characters are interesting. The only thing that I found a bit hard was moving between so many characters. But once I got their voices and storylines straight, it was pretty easy to adapt to the different POVs. Doree's story was probably my favourite, probably because I found Sylvia too selfish in a lot of ways. Sure, she made sacrifices, but at a certain point, I wanted her to see the positive in her family dynamic.

All in all, a really good historical fiction that covered something that has not been done before or at least not to my knowledge.

At heart, this is the story of the Zelners, a Jewish family living in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia- in the shadow of the famous Greenbrier resort. Framed by the efforts of Washington Post reporter Jordan in 1992 to uncover its secrets as well as the secrets his mother has kept, it moves around in time and among the family members. Sol and Pauline, Louis and Sylvia, Doree, Allan, and the rest are all well rounded. Things are not easy for the Zelners but the arrival of German and Italian internees upends everything for Sylvia and later for Doree, who has her own secret romance. Big quibble that stuck with me from the start- a reference to the women's pages in the WP in 1992- the WP ditched those and started the Style Section, which is so much more, in 1969. Smaller quibble-that Doree, who had previously only had sips of Passover and Seder wine, was able to handle a different glass of wine with each course of a meal. I've been to and enjoyed the Greenbrier- and the bunker tour- so this was a treat (here's hoping the resort can someday return to its former glory for it is surely not doing so well these days). Make sure to seek out the Ted Gup article in the WP that opened the secret to the world. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A good read.