Displaying 1 of 1 2019 Format: Book Author: Chevalier, Tracy, author Title: A single thread / Tracy Chevalier. Publisher, Date: New York, New York : Viking, [2019] ©2019 Description: 321 pages ; 24 cm Subjects: Female friendship -- Fiction Needleworkers -- Fiction Women -- England -- Fiction Great Britain -- History -- 20th century -- Fiction Genre: Historical fiction LCCN: 2019007094 ISBN: 9780525558248 (hardcover) 9780525558248 0525558241 System Availability: 37 Current Holds: 1 # Local items: 37 Control Number: 1766730 Course Reserves: 0 # Local items in: 5 # System items in: 5 Place Request Please select and request a specific volume by clicking one of the icons in the 'Where is it?' section below. Add to My List Share Expand All | Collapse All Where is it? Summary "A buoyant tale about the path to acceptance and joy--beginning, like all journeys, with one brave step."-- People An immersive, moving story of a woman coming into her own at the dawn of the Second World War, from internationally bestselling author Tracy Chevalier Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2019 ( TIME ) | Best Books of Fall ( PopSugar ) | 5 Books Not To Miss ( USA TODAY ) | 50 Best Books of the Year ( GOOD HOUSEKEEPING ) | One of the New York Post 's Fall Novels Everyone's Talking About 1932. After the Great War took both her beloved brother and her fiancé, Violet Speedwell has become a "surplus woman," one of a generation doomed to a life of spinsterhood after the war killed so many young men. Yet Violet cannot reconcile herself to a life spent caring for her grieving, embittered mother. After countless meals of boiled eggs and dry toast, she saves enough to move out of her mother's place and into the town of Winchester, home to one of England's grandest cathedrals. There, Violet is drawn into a society of broderers--women who embroider kneelers for the Cathedral, carrying on a centuries-long tradition of bringing comfort to worshippers. Violet finds support and community in the group, fulfillment in the work they create, and even a growing friendship with the vivacious Gilda. But when forces threaten her new independence and another war appears on the horizon, Violet must fight to put down roots in a place where women aren't expected to grow. Told in Chevalier's glorious prose, A Single Thread is a timeless story of friendship, love, and a woman crafting her own life. Suggestions and more Trade Reviews Booklist ReviewViolet Speedwell's life is not what she would have wished. The Great War took her fiancé, and now, in 1932, she's a 38-year-old surplus woman. Rather than martyr herself to caring for a toxic mother, Violet moves to Winchester to work. She joins the cathedral broderers, women whose needlework glorifies the church. She finds community and is soon drawn to one of the cathedral bell-ringers. Best-selling Chevalier presents women suffering spinsterhood as embarrassing at best, shameful at worst, to themselves and others. Violet's lack of a husband is her defining feature, conveying the difficulty of building an independent life as a meager salary keeps her threadbare, cold, and constantly hungry. She is pitied and disregarded, and even female friendships, including with a lesbian couple, are problematic. Chevalier's appealing characterization of similarly unwed yet indomitable Louisa Pesel, world traveler and first president of the Embroiderers' Guild of England, provides a marked contrast in contentment and purpose. Chevalier is strongest when describing artistic pursuits, from stitchery to ringing church bells, and that is where the novel both educates and engrosses.--Bethany Latham Copyright 2010 Booklist Map It First Chapter or Excerpt Fiction/Biography Profile Large Cover Image Librarian's View Displaying 1 of 1
