A Single Thread
FROM THE GLOBALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING
‘Bittersweet … dazzling’ Guardian
‘Deeply pleasurable … the ending made me cry’ The Times
‘Told with a wealth of detail and narrative intensity’ Penelope Lively
Violet is 38.
The First World War took everything from her. Her brother, her fiancé – and her future. She is now considered a ‘surplus woman’.
But Violet is also fiercely independent and determined. Escaping her suffocating mother, she moves to Winchester to start a new life –a change that will require courage, resilience and acts of quiet rebellion. And when whispers of another world war surface, she must live with a secret that could change everything…
”'Bittersweet … dazzling” - Guardian
”'Tracy Chevalier shows once again her ability to illuminate ordinary lives and to pay attention to those most often ignored … movingly examines hidden depths beneath quiet exteriors” - Sunday Times
”'Writing with quiet but devastating empathy, Tracy Chevalier pinpoints Violet’s predicament as a single woman, her unexpected emotional crisis and her struggle to give her life depth and meaning. I loved it” - Daily Mail
”'A well-woven story of love … Chevalier has such a sure eye for details, whether she is describing the loveliness of the cathedral or the dismal interior of a 1930s boarding house. Reading this is deeply pleasurable” - The Times
”'I enjoyed A Single Thread enormously. Tracy Chevalier wonderfully evokes the social climate of the nineteen thirties - this is the intriguing story of a young woman facing the conventions and prejudices of the day, told with a wealth of detail and narrative intensity” - Penelope Lively
”’Tracy Chevalier’s quietly moving story of a woman finding freedom in the 1930s is a gem” - Stylist
”'Evocative and beautifully written” - Sunday Express Magazine
”'I loved it. So compelling and warm and subtle, and very moving” - Bridget Collins, author of The Binding
”'Evocative, beautifully written” - Daily Mirror
”'Beautifully written … utterly immersive” - Red
”'Atmospheric … wonderful” - Good Housekeeping
”'I loved it! Enchanting and full of hope. Absolutely needed in this political climate” - Laura Purcell, author of The Silent Companions
”'A fierce and moving book about the great courage of a small life” - Sadie Jones
”'It’s a chance encounter that sets Violet on an unexpectedly rewarding path in this pleasant, leisurely paced novel” - i Paper
”'Absorbing, empathetic, poignant” - Daily Mail