Robert Heinlein story that begins with a card game followed by an alarm and a shelter

Question

The story begins with a group of people playing a card game of some sort, I can't recall what it was exactly, but it had some sort of team aspect to it. There were three or four players. One of them was a woman and she was nervous about the way she was playing and didn't want to let her partner in the game down. Then some event occurred, probably the alarm went off, and they were forced to stop the game in order to go to the shelter.

That's basically all I remember. I started this book when I was at my friend's house and didn't get to finish it or advance any further. I'm 99% sure that the author is Robert Heinlein though.

I would really like to finally read it, so if someone comes up with the name that will be great.

Answer 1

That is definitely Farnham's Freehold, it begins with a lot of bridge playing, and then a nuclear war or something breaks out.

Answer 2

Farnham's Freehold. :)

The woman you are thinking of is Barbara, friend to the main character's daughter, Karen. She joins them for dinner, a nuclear attack is reported, they hide in the Fallout shelter, where they play Bridge to pass the time.. then things start to get strange. Trying to limit my spoilering here... They are at dead-center (or so they surmise) of a rather large nuclear strike.. And they do not end up dead.

One of his somewhat controversial stories, as it has some interesting takes on Race Relations.. The original title being something along the lines (I don't have my copy with me) of 'On the other foot' or some such.