Violet Speedwell is a woman in her later 30s who is trying to make her way in the world, at a time when women had very little freedom and when men were scarce following on from WW1, when so many had been killed. Her existence, as it was for many unmarried women, was pretty much hand-to-mouth, as women took jobs whilst waiting for a marriage proposal to knock on the door. If they didn’t come, what then?

Women were expected to care for their parents, they were not expected to go out much on their own. The rigours of society were such that women were stifled and had to adhere to norms imposed by a masculine hierarchy. Violet and her friends are, however, not going to remain sequestered in a humdrum lifestyle.

Having moved away from her über-critical mother in Southampton, Violet takes lodgings in Winchester with some other young women, a very formal set up watched over by redoubtable landlady Mrs Harvey. She also finds herself a typing job, working alongside O and Mo (Olive and Maureen) in an insurance company.

A serendipitous visit to Winchester Cathedral finds her spell bound by the work of the broderers, who are sewing beautiful designs onto kneelers and seat cushions to soften the hardness of the spiritual experience. After a few test runs and eagle-eyed evaluation of her handiwork, she is welcomed into the community and it becomes a regular part of her life. She meets Gilda and her friend Dorothy and forms a firm friendship. The broderers’ work is carried out under the watchful eye of Louisa Pesel, a real person in history.

She also meets bell ringer Arthur who regularly rings both at the Cathedral and in Nether Wallop but he is already married….

Circumstances lead her to choose to go on a walking holiday, once again something that is not quite proper for a young woman to do and she frightens herself witless when on a lonely stretch heading South she comes under the scrutiny of a ne’er do well who dogs her life as she forges her way through constraints, just trying to live her life.

This is a wonderful, gentle novel that takes the reader back to an era of stoic hardship and repressive manners. Violet as a person is beautifully formed and I certainly rooted for her to cleave her way through these tough times. It started off fairly slowly which may lose some readers, but I found it engrossing to follow Violet’s life. I really wanted to know how things would turn out for her. You will learn much – and delightful learning it is too – about needlework and bell ringing and discover more about fylfots and Thomas Thetcher’s grave (who died of a violent fever contracted by drinking small beer when hot… in 1764).

As always, the author’s writing is eloquent, engaging and wonderfully observant of era and place, with tension and humour making this a very rounded and satisfying read. The author first came to my attention with Girl with the Pearl Earring which wonderfully evoked Delft in the 17th Century.

The author also shares with her readers at the end, that Keith Bain bought the privilege of having a character named after him (in the novel he is a friend of Arthur’s) at an auction to raise funds for Freedom From Torture.

Tracy Chevalier has turned her hand to more recent history in this novel, which is set in the 1930s. She’s written a story of social and domestic history as colourful and rich in detail as one of the kneelers her heroine sets out to create.

Violet Speedwell is a spinster of a certain age living independently in Winchester. She’s left the family home (and her overbearing mother) after her father has died, and we’re quickly given her family background: like so many of her generation, one of her brothers and her fiancé were lost in the Great War. Whilst Violet is steadfastly making a living as a typist in an insurance office (note that the girls had to share a heater between them, whilst their supervisor had one to himself), her loneliness leads to a chance encounter of the Cathedral Broderers and Violet’s life begins to transform.

Violet’s courage shines through at different points in the book. She’s not prepared to give up her life to accommodate others and understands that to help others she can’t lose herself in the process. Above all, this is a tale about true to oneself.

Violet Speedwell is one of many 'surplus women' since the Great War has killed so many young men. She herself lost both her fiance and her brother and is still mourning their loss. Fed up with living with her difficult and forever complaining mother, she moves to Winchester, where she becomes involved with a group of 'Broderes' who are embroidering the kneelers for the cathedral. She also befriends some of the bell-ringers and becomes interested in that as well.
She has to fight hard to keep her hard won independence, which may not make her likeable to everyone, but I liked her. Some aspects of the story felt rather less believable, it was always enjoyable. Not her best story, in my opinion, but worth a read.

*Thanks to Netgalley for a copy in return for an honest opinion*

Violet Speedwell is, like many other women after World War One, a spinster. Having escaped from her mother's house, she has moved to a rented room in Winchester and found a job, albeit one she finds rather dull. One day, she is passing the cathedral and notices a service of dedication for embroidered kneelers; intrigued, she goes along to one of the group's meetings and becomes a 'broderer'. Through the group, she meets more people and develops a social life in Winchester, meeting people who she would not have encountered had she remained in Southampton caring for her mother.
The 'thread' reflects her embroidery, but also the connections she makes and the path her life takes in the years leading up to World War Two.
This is a really good read, illustrating how many women's lives were changed by the immense death toll of the Great War.

I thank NetGally and The Borough Press (Harper Collins) for providing me an ARC copy of this novel, which I freely decided to review.
I only came to Chevalier’s books quite late (I hadn’t read any of her novels until I caught up with At the Edge of the Orchard, which I loved and whose review you can read here), but I’m fast becoming a fan of her way of bringing history to life and immersing us in worlds that many of us might know little or nothing of and managing to grab our attention and to teach us invaluable facts at the same time. This novel is no different. Although we revisit a historical period that is much closer than those she has visited in other books (the story takes place in the UK the early part of the XX century, in between wars), once we get into the story, we soon discover that things have changed more than we might realise. The social mores of the era seem light years away from ours (although perhaps not everywhere and not for everybody), and, although told in the third person through the eyes of the narrator, Violet Speedwell, we learn what being a single woman (‘a surplus woman’ as the novel explains) was like at the time.
Violet, the protagonist, is not the most glamorous and exciting character I’ve come across. She is not special in any way, and that is what makes her story particularly representative of the period. As she often observes, there were many women who had lost male relatives, husbands or fiancées (she lost her older brother and her fiancée) during the Great War, and this generation of women are struggling to find a place for themselves. Some might go on to marry, but others… what kind of life awaits them? Although the style of writing is completely different, the sharp social observations put me in mind of Jane Austen and her novels. (Of course, Jane Austen is buried at Winchester Cathedral, so it all seems to fit). Violet leads a life where she is always conscious of other people’s opinion, of what her mother will think, of what will happen to her in the future (will she end up having to go to live with her younger brother and become the spinster aunt to his children?), of whose company she keeps… And once she leaves her mother’s house and goes to work and live in Winchester, she even has to be careful of how much she eats, as her salary won’t allow for any luxuries or even a hot meal per day. She is far from a conformist and has her moments of rebellion (she has her sherry men), but she is not open-minded or up in arms, at least not when we first meet her. By chance (and due to her love for Winchester Cathedral, inherited from her father, the most significant person in her life) she discovers the broderers, a group of women dedicated to enhancing the cathedral with their embroidery (when you read the author’s note you discover that the group existed and its main character, Louisa Pestel, was a historical figure whose archives are now at the University of Leeds), and although she knows little of embroidery, the thought of making a contribution to such a building and leaving her mark drives her to join in. Although not all is goodwill and camaraderie in the group, it changes Violet’s life, and she and us, readers, meet many other characters that give the story its depth and a strong sense of place and historical truth.
I love the way the author introduces details of embroidery (needlepoint), bell ringing, the history of Winchester Cathedral, and even the landscape of the city and the surrounding area, into the novel seamlessly, without making us feel as if we were reading a touristic guide or a history book. (She brings together all the threads like a skilled embroiderer herself). She is also proficient at descriptions that enlighten without becoming repetitive or overbearing. I get the feeling that she would be an incredible teacher and she’s hold her students enraptured by her words, the same as she does her readers.
The characters are recognisable as types, but they manage to surprise us as well, and the little details she mentions about them and about their behaviours and reactions make them true and genuine, even those who don’t feature prominently in the story. As the story is told from Violet’s point of view we sometimes get biased opinions about the characters, but we also get to see how she changes her perspective when she gains a new understanding of what life might be like for others, and we share in her progressive enlightenment and her new (and more generous) view of things. By the end of the novel, Violet is a totally new person and her life has changed beyond all recognition. Is it a happy ending? Well, I guess it depends on your definition of happiness, but she’s sure come into her own, and I enjoyed it. Do read it and see what you think!
I thought I’d share a few quotes from the book, to give you an idea of what you might find. (I recommend you check a sample of the novel to see if it’s a good fit, and remind you that I accessed an ARC copy, so there might be some changes in the final published version).
Women always studied other women, and did so far more critically than men ever did.
An invisible web ran amongst the women, binding them fast to their common cause, whatever that might be.
It was expected of women like her —unwed and unlikely to— to look after their parents.
She was from an era when daughters were dutiful and deferential to their mothers, at least until they married and deferred to their husbands —not that Mrs Speedwell had ever deferred much to hers.
This is neither a page turner, nor a book for those who love non-stop action. There are adventures and surprises, but those are not earth-shattering but rather in keeping with the main character and her milieu. This is a story centred on the everyday life of a woman in the early 1930s in England, at a time when the country was starting to recover from a war, and people were already worried about the events taking place in Germany. It is a novel about how far women have come (at least in the West) or not, about how some things don’t change easily, about the small acts of rebellion and about finding your own place, about being creative in your own way (both the broderers and the bell ringers made me think of Alice Walker’s In Search of Our Mother’s Garden), and about ensuring your voice is heard. It is a novel of manners for the XXI Century, and much, much more. I was enchanted and entranced by it, and I recommend it to people interested in Women’s History, UK recent history, the social history of the interwar period, embroidery, bell-ringing, Winchester Cathedral, and good writing.

An interesting portrait of some of the 'surplus women' during the '30s, left without husbands due to the number of men killed in World War 1. Tracy Chevalier always writes beautifully and this story is no exception. Violet spends most of the story trying to carve out an identity for herself that is separate from just being a spinster and carer for her mother. The intricate detail of the embroidery that she learns made me want to pick up a needle and thread and learn myself. The whole book was a fantastic look into the lives of these women who were trying to live their lives in a much more modern way despite society's disapproval.

I've read everything that Tracy Chevalier has written, despite the fact that I don't think any of her novels have been solid hits for me since 2003's The Lady and the Unicorn. Happily, I've found another exception. A Single Thread probably has the quietest premise of any of her historical fiction; rather than focusing on an encounter with a famous person* or object, the book follows the story of Violet Speedwell, a thirty-eight-year old spinster who has recently moved away from her elderly mother to seek a measure of independence in Winchester, working in an office and living in a boarding house. When Violet meets the broderers, a group of women embroidering 'kneelers' for Winchester Cathedral, she is drawn into their fellowship. 

A Single Thread complements other recent and more overtly radical inter-war historical fiction such as Lissa Evans's Old Baggage by considering the impact of individual women choosing to live their lives differently. A long set-piece where Violet takes a walking tour by herself is especially insightful; Chevalier writes so well about how she is subtly constrained by the reactions of the men around her, from the over-friendliness of a patronising publican to a man who starts following her in a cornfield and clearly means harm. The novel underlines how actions that seem relatively small and apolitical, such as reorganising the secretaries' office work after one of your colleagues leaves so you can get better pay and an extra heater in winter, add another thread of discourse to a changing world. I found the ending a little disappointing - I'd hoped for something less conventional - but it does work with the overall concerns of the novel. And while a little of Chevalier's tendency to show her research seeps through in a long bell-ringing interlude, on the whole, the historical setting is handled subtly and evocatively. Delightful.

If anyone had told me I would enjoy a book about a woman who attends embroidery classes, I wouldn't have believed them. In essence this is what the book is about and while it sounds rather simple, the story of Violet Speedwell in 1930s Britain drew me in with its beautiful writing and subtle nuances. I looked forward to getting back to Violet each night before going to bed. A lovely novel that took me back in time.

Brilliant depiction of thirties Britain, this story follows the life of Violet whose brother and fiance died in the Great War. She moves away from her controlling mother and finds companionship in a cathedral, embroidering hassocks and meeting the bellringers. The challenge of making a life for the women who were left by the slaughter of their men in the war has not been written so well if at all. Probably her best book so far.

I'm really sorry, but I was so disappointed with this. I've loved her other books and Girl with a Pearl Earring is one of my favourites. But this one just didn't engage - the characters were flat and the plot predictable. Nothing original here from a writer who has produced so much better. But, seeing all the five star revues, maybe it's me - but I have to be honest.

Well, I wasn't expecting anything less than Chevalier. She's really really successful at writing very personal and intersting character novels in a historical period. Historical fiction is my favourite genre, and this is just a perfect book!
Violet was a feminist and strong character in . 1930s, after losing her husband to WW1. I really enjoyed reading about her and admired her journey. I was completely engrossed into her life, and read this book in a couple day.
The historical setting, all the details of the time is just perfect.
I would whole heartedly recommend this book if you like this genre.

Thanks a lot to Netgalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

What makes this book a wonderfully enjoyable read is the authors' talent at taking subjects I have absolutely no interest in and weaving such a lovely story around them that I am absorbed and entranced throughout.
Her writing is outstanding and the book is a delight to read.
It tells the story of a very ordinary young woman, Violet, who has had the misfortune to become one of the thousands of "surplus" women following World War One. In an era when a woman’s worth was measured by the quality of husband she could marry and at a time when men are extremely thin on the ground and eligible ones almost non-existent, there are a plethora of such unattached ladies, the archetypal spinster.
Violet lives at home with her overbearing and crotchety Mother who neither appreciates nor values her daughter. Violet has known love, she is one of many women whose fiancé was killed in the war. Approaching early middle age her opportunities are few and her life is so dull and stifling she takes the quite bold decision to break free and manages to get a job in Winchester, a cathedral city which surely must hold more promise than slowly being suffocated as her Mothers drudge.
Moving into a respectable lodging-house for impoverished ladies, she becomes instead a slave to poverty. Trying to stretch a woman’s meagre wage to provide a roof, food and clothe herself proves almost impossible and any kind of social life also seems out of her reach.
At work she doesn't feel as though she fits in, working in a small office with 2 slightly younger women, who have already formed a clique they are reluctant to grant her access to. Her life is little better than before but at least she has broken free and she relishes this freedom even if she doesn't quite know what to do with it.
In a world filled with people broken by the recent war, she eventually finds a little niche for herself by "gatecrashing" an event at the nearby Cathedral which she so admires and discovers a group of ladies who embroider kneelers for the Cathedral. Eventually, she manages to join this little group and makes a new friend Gilda, who is also a “surplus woman” and as much a misfit as Violet (and most of the women who are in this group). With the Cathedral as central a character to the story as Violet herself, with the bells ringing as a backdrop she manages to stitch together a kind of life for herself.
What she doesn't expect is to fall in love, with someone very unsuitable with whom she can have no possible future. Little does she realise at first that her lively and outgoing new friend Gilda is also involved in an unconventional relationship she needs to conceal and the story unfolds as each tries to come to terms with choosing whether to love the wrong person or to forego love at all as they try individually to flout rigid convention and prejudice and find love where they can.

There are a few idiosyncrasies which rather than detracting from the tale, add to it. Violets encounters with whom she refers to as Sherry men and an unpleasant character who seems to follow her with ill intent.
There is a lot of detail about embroidery and later in the book, about bell ringing, which although central to the story I must confess I rushed through wanting to get back to Violet's story.
It’s a warm and gentle story, in which you think nothing much at all is happening but when you reach the end you realize you've lived someone else's mundane life instead of your own and you know what - jolly well enjoyed every moment of it.
Violet is an unlikely heroine, living a very unremarkable life. She doesn't change the world in any huge way but she fights bravely for her own right to a life of her own and represents the small moves made by women in the past to open doors for us women of today to choose to live as we want to and not how other people want us to.
I unreservedly recommend this book to women of any age, who are interested in what life was like for the women who paved the way for us and who enjoy heart-warming women’s fiction and appreciate quality writing.

A beautiful, gentle book that covers a period of vast social change , A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier is an escape from the modern world. Beginning in 1932, it is the story of Violet Speedwell, one of a generation of so called "surplus" women , the women whose men were lost in the First World War. At 38 she is largely resigned to spinsterhood, but can no longer tolerate her embittered mother who is still mourning the loss of one of her sons. When her job offers the opportunity to move to Winchester, she seizes it with both hands. Once there she struggles to make friends , until she joins the Broderers, a group of local women who are embroidering kneelers and cushions for the famous Cathedral. Creating something gives her a real sense of fulfillment and the friends she makes among the group bring a new joy to her life, but when her independence seems to be threatened by family circumstances she must make some tough decisions.
The slow, meandering pace of this book may not be to some reader's tastes, but it I found it really enjoyable and strangely compelling , I was captivated by Violet and her determination to assert an independence hard fought for and not easily won. It is a book driven by character rather than plot, and I applaud the author's attention to detail. She managed to engage my interest in both embroidery and bell ringing through her descriptions, which were both comprehensive and skillful. Her descriptions of the Winchester setting are both vivid and beautiful, and overall I felt like I got a real sense of time and place from the book. I also found it interesting to read a book set in the interlude between two massive conflicts.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own .

A Single Thread follows the life of Violet Speedwell in 1932 as she attempts to escape the clutches of her negative and demanding mother. Violet, at 38 and single, is one of the ‘surplus women’ left when there are two million less men than women in the country due to the losses and injuries in WW1.

As with all the Tracey Chevalier novels that I have read there is an historical theme. This book focuses on the broderers and bellringers in Winchester Cathedral. The broderers are a group who do canvas embroidery (needlepoint) to create the kneelers, cushions, etc in the cathedral. A Single Thread wasn’t as gripping as some of the other Tracey Chevalier books I have read though. I think maybe the subject being a little closer to home so wasn’t sufficiently different to grip me in the same way as some of the other topics she’s chosen for her historical fiction. The plot also seemed a little thin with quite a bit of emphasis on the embroidery stitches and bell-ringing techniques. Having said that I still enjoyed it and will certainly be looking at kneelers in churches and cathedrals in a completely different light from now on.

With thanks to NetGalley and HarperFiction for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wondered if I’d done the right thing requesting this book as it’s completely different to my usual choice. I read it in one evening and absolutely loved it. It’s a very beautiful and well written story. The characters were likeable, even Violets mum had her reasons for being miserable and at times I felt sorry for her. Violet was the star. After losing her fiancé in WW1 she wasn’t going to be a single woman that conformed to what was expected but made the brave choice to make a new life for herself.

The history in the book fascinated me and I found myself going straight to google wanting to know more about Winchester Cathedral, the Broderers and Louisa Pesel.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

It takes a great writer to make such a dull topic readable. Luckily Chevalier is a great writer. Even so, there is not much plot in this book. I wasn't a fan. Go read Chevalier's The Last Runaway. Now that's a good book.

This fascinating read highlights the problems faced by women in the 1920’s and 30’s; a shortage of men, discrimination, same sex relationships, living up to family expectations and single parenting. Some of these problems are still applicable today.
Tracy Chevaliers writing brings her characters alive and absorbs the reader into their fictional lives. As much as I wanted to finish the story , I was disappointed to leave the characters and wanted more.
Whilst reading through the moral maze contained in this story, it was difficult to be objective and the dilemmas faced called out to be discussed at book group or over coffee.


posted on goodreads and amazon

Violet Speedwell starts a new life in Winchester. She finds a job and joins the broderers who make kneelers and cushions for the cathedral. I loved the story as it unfolded with all the twists and turns. I enjoyed reading about the detail of the needlepoint that the ladies, young and old, embarked upon which was clearly well researched, A very touching and compelling story which kept me captivated to the end. A brilliant read,

Not for the first time have I read a book by this author and been intrigued by the subject matter but underwhelmed by the story. This one was no exception. The plight of the ‘surplus women’ of the years after WWI has been fictionalised before and to better effect. The embroidery project at Winchester Cathedral and the whole rigmarole of bell ringing were intriguing, though, and I am glad to have read this book for those alone, especially since I discovered at the end that the main character in the embroidery element (Louisa Pesel) is based on a real person and that inspired me to research her life. I thought the story linking all these themes, though, was lacklustre and short on subtlety. I don’t much care for being told what to think.

‘The price of her happiness - no, not happiness; the price of her freedom - was the misery of at least four people. It was a very high price indeed, and Violet resented having to calculate it in this way. A man never did.’

The characters were rather one-dimensional and I failed to engage, even with Violet whose situation in life should have moved me more. An easy enough read, but not one I’d much recommend.

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins, and the author Tracy Chevalier.
Although a little slow moving, this was an enjoyable and heartwarming book. There were a few sections where the author went into much too much technical detail on needlepoint and bell ringing, which felt a little unnecessary. However, the characters and storyline were well developed and appealing.
A gentle read. 3.5 stars.