Listen to a sample
A Single Thread
- Author
- Tracy Chevalier
- Narrator
- Fenella Woolgar
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date
- 5 September 2019
- Run Time
- 10 hours 51 minutes
- Format
- x-book®
- Rating
- 3.5 (2 reviews)
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What to expect
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…
Critics Review
-
‘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
User Reviews
Book 3.5
Narration 4.5
-
2.0 4.0
I can't quite believe I got to the end of this book it was so dull. It was like being stuck in a classroom with a teacher who had to instruct you in minute detail of everything they knew about embroidery and bellringing! Far too much information that I had to skip over it. A character who could only communicate in Latin phrases that were totally unnecessary and lets not miss out the description of embroidery stitches. Tracy Chevalier is a good writer and her other books are great but this wasn't one of them.
Jane B 2025-07-24 -
5.0 5.0
A charming story well read.
PBee 2025-03-04
Details
- Author
- Tracy Chevalier
- Narrator
- Fenella Woolgar
- Duration
- 10 hours 51 minutes
- Release Date
- 5 September 2019
- ISBN
- 9780008153854
- Format
- x-book®
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Genre
- Historical romance, Historical fiction
- Rating
- 3.5(2 reviews)
- Narration
- 4.5(2 reviews)
Synopsis
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…
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