Thoroughly enjoyed this, especially as I know Winchester quite well. Great characterisation and a really interesting storyline. I will definitley recommend it to friends.

I so enjoy much of Chevaliers other work but couldn't get into this one I'm afraid. Considering it's had such wonderful praise across the industry and press, I feel I ought to give it another try.

An enjoyable read.
Well written and plot flows well.
Great read
Thank you to both NetGalley and publishers for gifting me this book

Oh but this book is beautiful.
Small town, 1930s
The impact of the Great War on so many, especially the women.
Violet has lost so much to the war - her brother, fiancé, and if she is not careful, her freedom.
This book is about rebuilding and the fresh shoots of hope in terrible times..
Great characters, real people.

I was looking forward to reading this book based on listening to the author speak about it on the radio. I was impressed by the painstakingly detailed research which Tracy Chevalier had obviously undertaken both in respect of embroidery and bell ringing. I didn’t expect that so much of the book would be devoted to the embroidery project and although this was interesting, it didn’t move me emotionally. The book was a gentle, easy read but not really for anyone who likes some tension and pace.

I am really surprised how much I enjoyed reading this book. Set in the era of between the wars it describes the plight of a ‘spinster’ so well. Today women have choice and freedom and can think only of themselves if they want to, however the reader is taken back to a time when this really was not the case. Violet is a very believable character and the plot, whilst slow in parts, needs to be to savour the life she leads and the problems encountered. I thoroughly recommend reading this well written book.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s a lovely gentle story about Violet Speedwell, a thirty eight year old women in 1930’s Britain. She is one of the generation of women left single by the Great War, who is expected to do her duty by her family. The story navigates through her struggles for independence from her demanding widowed mother.
The main theme of the book centres around the embroiders guild that Violet joins initially to ward off loneliness but which she eventually finds friendships and joy..
The book is well written and shows the reader how hard it was for a generation of forgotten women.

Violet Speedwell is a ‘surplus woman’ – a woman whose fiancé was killed in the First World War and who, like more than a million other British women, is now unlikely to find a husband because there are simply no longer enough men to go around. Tracy Chevalier’s new novel, A Single Thread, tells Violet’s story beginning in 1932 when Violet, who has stayed at home with her mother until the age of thirty-eight, decides that it’s finally time to move out and build a life of her own.

Moving from Southampton to nearby Winchester, Violet is determined to be financially independent but it’s not easy on the low wages she earns as a typist in the office of a small insurance company. By the time she’s paid to rent a room in a house shared with two other women she finds that she’s struggling to buy a hot meal or put coal on the fire. This is all very depressing at first, but a visit to Winchester Cathedral changes everything. Here she meets a group of women who call themselves the Winchester Cathedral Broderers and who devote their spare time to embroidering cushions and kneelers for the cathedral seats and benches. Violet decides to attend one of their weekly meetings and soon she is learning new skills and making new friends.

One of these friends is Gilda Hill, another single woman, who introduces her to Arthur, an older man who volunteers with a group of bell-ringers at the cathedral. Violet likes Arthur immediately but she is aware that he has a wife and daughter, so anything more than friendship must be out of the question. Still, with the help of Gilda, Arthur and others, Violet begins to find her place in her new community – until events back in Southampton force her to make an important decision.

This is a quiet, gentle book – not one with a dramatic, exciting plot – but I found it completely absorbing. I liked Violet and sympathised as she tried to navigate a society designed for men and married women; as a single woman she faced a large number of challenges and I particularly admired the way she dealt with her male employer who had never even considered the pay and working conditions of his female workers. Some of the other women amongst the Winchester Broderers had interesting stories of their own too, especially Gilda and Dorothy, and I was intrigued to learn that the woman leading the embroidery project, Louisa Pesel, was a real person.

I have to admit, the detailed descriptions of different types of embroidery stitches and patterns didn’t interest me all that much, but the enthusiasm of Violet and the other Broderers and the pride they took in their work came across strongly. Similarly, I didn’t share the passion of Arthur and his friends for bell-ringing, but I did enjoy hearing them explain what was involved and why they found it so rewarding.

I wasn’t completely satisfied with the way the book ended as I found it too predictable and would have preferred something more unconventional for Violet, but I still thought it was an enjoyable and insightful read, highlighting a section of 1930s society we don’t hear enough about.

Violet Speedwell lives in the 1930s, left behind after her losses in the Great War. Violet makes for an interesting character, determined to do things her way and demonstrating a constant streak of independence that sets her apart. The writing here is beautiful in places, and there is some lovely historical detail built in. For a novel about embroidery and bell-ringing, this did hold my attention and was a relaxing and positively lovely read.

A single thread is a great story about strong women in England 1930, and it’s very enjoyable to read.

It’s 1930. Violet 38 lost her fiancé in the war, and also her brother. She lives by her mother, who grieves of the loss of her oldest child and takes it out on Violet. Violet is leaving her mother and is moving to Winchester to work and live. She joins a group of women who embroider kneelers for the church. She makes friends. But friends do also have problems, big and smal and Violet does help if she can.

It’s not only about friendship and embroider, but also the bellringing of church bells is part of the story. And theme’s like diversity, suppression of women and pregnancy before or without marriage are part of the story.

A Single Thread gives a good view about live in 1930 and how tough it was for women to survive without a man, because of the social rules. It’s very well written and a very nice story to read.

Violet Speedwell is starting a new life in Winchester - one of the surplus women, who have found themselves without marriage prospects following World War I, she leaves her overbearing mother behind and chooses to start life on her own. Money is scarce, but lost and lonely Violet finds an unexpected group of friends in Winchester cathedral broderers - a group of women embroidering kneelers and cushions for the cathedral.
Violet is a heroine that embodies fears and hopes of her generation - she longs to be independent but at the same time she is bound by the societal expectations and values. She is pitied and mistrusted by married or younger women, faces prejudice from her employer, but she fights for her right to be heard and to be seen. The embroidery is for her and other a chance to leave the a small mark of their own, But it seems freedom comes with a cost and Violet will have to decide if it is worth paying it.
I found Tracy Chevalier's prose beautiful and rich - she concentrates on the minutiae and ordinary, on single threads that make up a rich canvas that can be admired from afar in their full glory. She writes about breakfasts, cups of teas and heaters, about the drudgery of everyday life like about single, individual pieces of embroidery that will create bigger piece. She writes about comfort, love and pleasure found in everyday and mundane. She writes about single women, that suppose to bring comfort to others, even if that means sacrificing their own one. But her single characters, solitary lives are always a part of a bigger, richer picture - a world of past, now forever encapsulated in the history of the city and its cathedral.

At first I really wasn't sure about this book, it seemed to have a stereotypical 'surplus woman' plot but it quickly became so much more and I felt that I was living alongside Violet - I felt cold and hungry at times when Violet was suffering and the tense plot strands had me holding my breath.
Being both a volunteer and an embroiderer I felt a real connection to this book.

Spinster: an unmarried woman, typically an older woman beyond the usual age for marriage.

Thankfully that word has been almost completely pushed out of everyday conversation, but for Violet, a single woman living in the shadow of ww1, which had claimed suitors, brothers and sons, she feels the sting of spinsterhood daily.

Violet's story unspools gently, weaving together stories of female friendship, strength and hope from within, as rich as the tapestry created by the broderers in the church.

Who would ever have thought a novel about embroidery would be so absorbing?

In A Single Thread, Tracey Chevalier taps into this niche hobby, through her protagonist Violet Speedwell, a single woman in the 1930s. It is this last detail that is much more pertinent to the novel, as Chevalier explores a period which is often overlooked in favour of the two wartime eras - the 1930s, or the inter-war period. Violet is known as a 'surplus woman', one of many women unable to marry after the war due to the decline in male population. To modern standards this is an awful concept, and it is a struggle to see how difficult it was for a woman to live independently. Yet in many ways, by laying bare the social expectations and restrictions on Violet, Chevalier deftly parallel equivalent issues in our own time. Think about the concern that still abounds for a woman to be walking out late, the social reaction to a woman who chooses to holiday or travel alone, and the burden of care that still falls on many women, of children and elderly parents, rather than men.

As a woman without children, or the hope of having any, Violet seeks to leave a legacy. She becomes involved with the Winchester Cathedral Broderers, in the hope of embroidering a kneeler for the cathedral. However, it becomes so much more than that, giving meaning to her independence, creating social relationships and making a home out of Winchester. It gives her the confidence to become her own person, speak her mind, and fight for herself, though in small ways, in important ones.

You will be surprised how much this novel, which is very simple, and follows daily lives, with no aspiration to epic or adventure, will draw you in. The descriptive charms of the cathedral, embroidery and bell-ringing are enchanting. The drama of the relationships is seductive. This book shows you life from a whole new perspective. It is a wonderful book for anyone who wants to see a different aspect of wartime Britain. This is a heartwarming exploration of what it means to make the most of your life.

Violet is what was termed as a “surplus woman” when there were so few men left after the devastating First World War. To get away from her overbearing mother she moves a few miles away to the lovely city of Winchester where a whole new world opens up to her. I loved the gentle pace of this book, the work and attention to detail that goes into embroidery in the Cathedral and how bell ringing works. The only real niggle I had was the amount of times the one, truly nasty person crops up whenever Violet was alone which was stretching credibility a bit! Reading this is like taking a step back in time - beautifully descriptive.

Violet Speedwell lost her brother and fiance in the war. She is classed a surplus woman expected to look after her mother. When she moves out she tries to discover a life. Lovely, sad all entwined would recommend.

Loved this gentle tale of Violet one of the 1930s "forgotten" woman who had to support themselves following the loss of so many men in WW1. The detail about the embroidery against the backdrop of Winchester Cathedral made me want to go and visit! There seemed a lot about bell ringing but I guess I wasn't as interested in that!

Would definitely recommend.

Violet Speedwell is one of the “surplus women”, left behind after losing her brother and her fiance in the first world war. She wants more from her life than looking after her embittered mother so she saves enough to leave home, moving to Winchester where she is
drawn into a group of broderers--women who carry on a centuries-long tradition of embroidering kneelers for the Cathedral.
Against the reports of the rise of the Nazi party Violet makes friends and becomes involved in the lives and secrets of the other women. She gains in self confidence and self worth and acquires a growing sense of independence as she learns the embroidery skills and becomes a valued part of the group.
The impressive portraits of individual women and their intriguing stories draw the reader into a vividly painted world.
Chevalier creates a convincing picture of the period with a wealth of detail based on meticulous research.
A warm and deeply enjoyable read.

This was an excellent book, following Violet, a 'surplus woman', one of the many many women in Britain who remained unmarried in the 1920s and 1930s as so many men died in the Great War. I learned so much about embroidery and bell ringing, as Violet moves away from her mother in Southampton to live as an independent woman with a job and friends in Winchester. A brilliant story which moves at a great pace. Highly recommend.

At the age of 38 Violet Speedwell is unlikely to marry and have a family. She is part of the generation of women who lost their fiancees and husbands in the Great War and are now 'surplus'. Violet's elder brother was also killed and her mother has never recovered making life difficult for Violet. She resolves to be more independent and moves to Winchester with her typist job. Life is hard and Violet struggles to make ends meet but she falls in with the Broderers making cushions for the Cathedral and her life takes a number of unexpected turns.
Chevalier is a writer at the height of her powers and this is a quiet yet very powerful book. Focusing in on the inequalities facing women in the 1930s Violet is an interesting heroine, throwing off the shackles of convention in a series of mild rebellions against the role of spinster that society has awarded to her. the story is straightforward and the book reads like a gentle historical novel but underneath it all are deep plot lines. Chevalier does not shy away from talking about lesbianism, sexual assault, sex outside marriage and the Nazis but it seems natural and not designed to shock. A brilliant book.