A lovely story with historical facts woven into it ,something that Tracey Chevalier does so well. A well researched novel that is a lovely read. A story of women ,their place in society ,their relationships with each other and their families in the 1930s as another war looms on the horizon.
Violet Speedwell, having lost her fiancé in the Great War, is one of society’s surplus women . In a bid to escape a lifetime of looking after her domineering mother she moves to Winchester to a tiny room in a boarding house. She joins the broderers of Winchester Cathedral in a bid to make her life more exciting and worthwhile. Louisa Pesel in the novel and in history led this group of women who embroidered the kneelers, and cushions for the cathedral. The richly descriptive prose and explanations of the designs makes you want to visit to see them for yourself as they are still in use today.
Violet’s search for a place in a society where women are judged by the worth of the men around them ( father ,brother, husband, acquaintances ),but where they are starting to believe that there must be more to life makes for an interesting story .

This is such a beautiful book. Set between the wars it is the story of Violet, one of the ‘surplus’ women, those who were bereaved and left to our number men after WW1. Still grieving for her brother and her fiancé she’s finally strikes out alone, leaving her domineering and cantankerous mother and moves to Winchester.
Working in a small office she struggles to pay her way but enjoys her new found independence. She becomes a member of the broderers society, women working on new textiles within the cathedral. Her she meets new friends, learns new skills and begins to come to life again.
This book has much to say about the perception and role of women, particularly single women between the two wars. There is a sense of fellowship, a quiet coming together and the need to make a lasting mark in society.
It was a book which spoke to me and will stay with me for a long time.

When I started reading A Single Thread one phrase jumped out to me, 'surplus woman'. This is not a phrase I have heard before, but it was one that described those women, who due to the death of a fiancé, or simply due to the shortage of men in England after the war, were left on the shelf so to speak. With no marriage prospects they were expected to stay at home and look after their parents in their old age, become the spinster aunt and help with nieces or nephews and some gained employment. These women were treated with some suspicion and looked on like lesser citizens, with suspicion and pity.  Violet is one of these women, leaving home to get away from her infuriating mother and moving to Winchester to get a job as a typist and live in a rented room. Violet's story is one of struggling to make ends meet, and having to put up with the prejudices against her as a woman living on her own. However, she is strong, intelligent, confident and not frightened of speaking up for herself, all qualities that I greatly admired in her.When she joins the broderers, she makes friends with several like minded women in a similar situation to herself and situations that offer new prospects for her.
Tracy Chevalier always has an element of historical fact in her books. The broderers were a real group of women, led by Louisa Pesel, a character both in fact and fiction, who took on the project of embroidering kneelers and cushions for Winchester Cathedral, that are still in use today.  This was a mammoth task to take on, and one the women did in their spare time, between work or running households. Louisa Pesel, like Violet, was one of the 'surplus women' and a talented embroiderer and designer, however she was a lot better off financially than Violet.
This is very much a book about women, their relationships with each other, family, their place in society and the difficulties they faced. It was very much a man's world, where women were judged by their male counterparts and their relationships whether it be husband, brother, father, boss, boyfriend and lover.  Women's roles as mother, daughter, aunt, friend and lover are important themes in this book and we able to see how they develop over time, and change with greater understanding.
A Single Thread is a beautiful, poignant story told with great warmth and understanding by Tracy Chevalier.  The period of the 1930's opens up many talking points of women's role in society and how that changed after the war due to the lack of men after the huge losses in the trenches. It is a time where change was happening but old fashioned values and parameters were still in place. Violet is certainly a women of her time, and I loved her independence, want for change and strength of character; I felt so many different emotions when reading her story. This is another stunning novel from Tracy Chevalier, full of historical detail, and with unforgettable characters.  This is a must for your huge TBR piles, a book to savour, enjoy and delight in as I did.

I can’t get this story out of my head. Beautifully written, it details the lives of women left ‘single’ by the First World War. It made me think of all of the older single ladies I knew when I was growing up in the 1970s and brought home that they too were probably some of the ‘single women’ of this period. The desire to make a life that is theirs and means something runs strongly through the story, as the central character, Violet, struggles to gain her independence from her family. Her desire to create something lasting and meaningful from her life, to count for something in a world that she no longer fits into, is given hope through her embroidery work at the cathedral. I love the way the ‘single thread’ of the title mirrors the lives of these single women. The author captures the era beautifully and the descriptions of everyday life allow you to walk alongside the characters and experience what happens with them. The aftermath of the war for the whole of society is so subtly described and rings true because of this. It really brought it to life for me. I loved Violet, and found myself really rooting for her. A strong, independent woman and a trailblazer for modern women today. There is so much to think about in this book and it would make a brilliant read for a book club discussion. This is a book that will stay with me and I can not recommend it highly enough. I wish I could give it 10 stars!

A single thread is not my normal genre of reading, but I'm glad I did take a chance as it is a beautiful story which is based several years after the 1st world war and at the start of the rumblings that preceded the 2nd world war.

It follows Violet a young woman who has sadly lost her brother and fiancee in the war, the loss of Laurence her fiancee has left her a spinster, living with her overbearing mother, although she longs for her own life and freedom from her predicted existence of caring for her mother, so she bravely moved to Winchester,

The book highlights the difficulties a single woman had to endure in the 1930s, with no man to support her.

I have never read a book from Tracy Chevalier before but I writing will definitely read more from her, I loved the three dimensional characters that that she created and I loved the fact that at the end of the book she revealed that some of the characters were actually based on real people and the book just goes on to highlight the depths that she went too to get the facts right, for her characters.

I suspected I was in for a well written, compelling story, and I was not disappointed. This book had the warm, hazy, lazy feel of ‘A Month in the Country’. The characters were all beautifully written and sympathetic, and there were a few little twists and turns that really added to my enjoyment. Definitely one to read again, very much recommended.

I find this period of history absolutely fascinating and often ignored. I love a historical novel and read this in a few days, I really couldn’t put it down. Violet is independent minded and a great character. She knows exactly what she wants and isn’t afraid to get what she wants, in a 1930’s kind of way. The novel takes place over a few years and you really see her blossoming, taking steps to carve out her own life.

If you’ve ever thought about the women behind all the cushions and kneelers in a church or cathedral, then this forms a lovely backdrop to Violet’s life in Winchester. As Violet learns how to stitch, she also learns more about herself, dealing with love and loss, and a new life in a new city.

This was a wonderful read and a time period Ive rarely read about. The context fell into place for me when I realised my grandparents would have been about 40 at the time of this novel. A time when women were expected to marry and have children, but where the male population had fallen by 2 million during the Great War and when Britain was still recovering from one war, while Hitler rose to prominence as the Chancellor on the way to the next. It was terribly difficult to earn a living and live independently as a woman ‘left on the shelf’. This is the story of a woman and the life she makes for herself, the community to which she comes to belong, the friends she makes, the interests and skills she develops and how she comes to lead her own life through a community of broderers. A poignant and lovely story. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

A beautiful book of a surplus woman’s battle for independence in the straitjacket of 1930s England. So much depth in the research, as ever with Chevalier’s novels, and the pace of the story reflects the pace of life, the work of the kneeler embroiderers and the suffocation of society. An immersive historical gem.

A Single Thread Tracy Chevalier

This is a gentle, slow burner of a book. But don’t be fooled into thinking it’s dull, I was utterly invested in ‘surplus woman’ Violet Speedwell from the first page.

Set between the wars when so many young women had no hope of a husband after the better part of a generation of young men did not come back from the First World War. These women lived in a society when being an unmarried woman over 30 was alien, strange, and threatening.

Violet, belittled by her embittered, suffocating mother’s demands, strikes out on her own and moves to Winchester.
Earning a pittance as a typist in an insurance office, she stumbles upon a service for the Cathedral ‘broderers’ in her break and sneaks in to listen. She plucks up the courage to join the group of women and slowly builds her confidence as a needlewoman and starts to makes friends in the group.
One of her new friends, Gilda, introduces her to Arthur, one of the retiree bellringers who offers to ‘show her the ropes’.

There are fascinating details about both embroidery and bellringing in this gem of a book from Tracy Chevalier, indeed she quotes in the acknowledgements one of my favourite books which also features the world of bellringing, Nine Tailors by Dorothy l Sayers.

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this gem of a book, with it’s bittersweet relationships. I almost cheered at the ending! Buy it and you won’t regret it.

I was lucky enough to be on holiday so I could read this lovely book in a day. It wasn’t what I expected from Tracy Chevalier, but it was interesting, charming, and a lovely way to spend a day in the sunshine. .
Set in Winchester in the early 1930s (an era that I always find intriguing) #ASingleThread shows the challenges faced by single women at the time to make a living and be independent. Through her embroidery (really) Violet finds friendship and is able to make a mark in the world. I didn’t expect to find out so much about Winchester Cathedral or about the kneelers I have seen there. I could imagine the author at Midnight Mass having a lightbulb moment about her next book.
I very much enjoyed A Single Thread and will recommend it.
Thank you to Tracy Chevalier, the publisher, and to @NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this charming novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of "A Single Thread".
Violet Speedwell is one of many 'surplus women' in her 30's who sadly lost their fiances during the Great War. Violet's story set in 1932 is a gentle telling of a women of the time making a stand for her independence, quietly rebelling against a society that believed spinster daughters should remain at home looking after elderly parents. She leaves home. She joins the Winchester Cathedral Broiderers and through this we meet other friends whose stories are also intertwined.
Tracy Chevalier has done a marvellous amount of research about Cathedrals, embroidery, bell ringing and the social/economics of the early 1930's and I for one have learned an awful lot whilst also being entertained.

"A Single Thread" is classic Tracey Chevalier. A gentle novel which is character-driven, exploring the relationships between people, the connections made over simple expressions, conversations and interactions.

This novel is set around the worlds of embroidery and bell-ringing in 1930s Britain; our main character Violet gets immersed in these two crafts while seeking our companionship at a time in history when "surplus women" were common in post-war society.

We learn, as Violet does, that these crafts are deceptive - they appear more straightforward and simple than they actually are but both involve careful attention to detail, working in synchronicity with others and can actually be quite intense experience-wise.

As Violet grows as a person through these experiences, we learn about her life, her losses and her hopes for the future - and we hope for a happy future for her too.

A comforting historical read to savour. Chevalier draws you into Winchester in 1932, the scars of the first war evident and another on the horizon, with likeable heroine Violet driving the narrative. The plot is interesting enough to keep you turning the pages, but this is more of a study of people living in a society on the cusp of change, connected through activities that they found meaningful - embroidery and bell-ringing. Not quite the ingredients for a drama, you might think, but you'd be surprised. Through Violet, her family members, her friends and a lover that can never be more than that, we see all the issues and complications of life back then when supposedly things were simpler (!). The role of women, being an unmarried mother, grief, PTSD, sexuality, LGBT issues, prejudice, poverty - all these and more are explored in this very enjoyable book. If you like character-driven historical fiction, particularly set between the wars, you'll find much to enjoy in A Single Thread. With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

An interesting story about the era and life in England.
A beautiful location very well described and a strong woman who tries to find her way in life after the ost of her fiancee and brother due to the war.
The community and the support she's receiving it's a great help to find herself and dream of a better future away from her mother and family.
If you like historical stories this book is perfect for you.

A Single thread Is the first book from Tracy Chevalier that I have read, and I love historical fiction so I happy when my request was granted to get a copy of this book.
It’s 1932, Victoria Speedwell is 38 years old, unmarried and suffering the losses of her fiancé and brother in the war. Like so many others at that time. She is deemed a ‘surplus’ woman after the losses of men and married women fear her. She decides that she wants to be more independent and doesn’t want to live with her mother anymore who stifles her and keeps complaining all the time. So, she decides to move to Winchester and takes a job as a typist for an insurance company and lives in a boarding house. After her meagre earnings and paying the boarding house Victoria lives a quite poverty, compared to her colleagues at the insurance company. She is quite jealous of them, with their make up and up to date fashion. When she gets involved with a embroidery group that makes kneelers and cushions for the Winchester Cathedral a whole new world opens up for her. She meets a mixture of people on her travels and gets involved with a bell ringer from the cathedral.
Although I love historical novels and I love the story of Victoria claiming her independence and found this quite slow in parts. I did find the parts of the embroidery group quite interesting but, I just thought that there was something missing in this story. I can’t put a finger on it. 3.5 stars from me.

Tracy Chevalier has returned to Europe for her latest work of historical fiction, specifically, Winchester. I could imagine her visiting the cathedral one day, looking at the kneelers and wondering who had made them and what their story was. There are many themes in this book but as the title suggests they are held together by a single thread that is our central character, Violet Speedwell.

Violet is one of many surplus women who were unfortunate to lose their man to the Great War and then struggle to find another to replace him, all the while being harshly judged and treated by society. Violet is a strong and determined woman who manages to throw off her overbearing mother who has also lost her son, Violet’s brother to the War, to strike out independently in Winchester where she joins a group of broderers who are working on the most perfectly produced cushions, kneelers and alms purses for the cathedral. She makes friends, learns inner calm, learns secrets and is inadvertently introduced to married bellringer, Arthur.

Violet really does endure and carries the burdens of others. As a reader, you really want things to come good for her but Chevalier keeps it real. She falls in love with a man she cannot have, is almost raped by one she doesn’t want, covers for her lesbian friends, deals with her demanding mother - without much support from her surviving brother, who has is own family, has an inconsiderate boss and a nosy landlady!

The level of research, as with all of Chevalier’s books, is evident. The real life character of Louise Pesssel is introduced via the borders’ group and there is considerable detail about the art of campanology. The depth of description can weigh things down somewhat and this is certainly not a fast paced book. It is however, an excellent window into another time and a reminder of how women were treated and viewed....especially if they were gay or unmarried and pregnant.

This is sure to please fans of Chevalier’s earlier works and will appeal to anyone who enjoys historical fiction - or indeed knows Winchester and its surroundings.

With thanks to the publishers for a pre-publication copy via NetGalley.

This is the first novel I’ve read by Tracy Chevalier, and it’s basically well done chick lit, which is absolutely fine. 

The setting is Winchester in the 1930s, in an England that has barely started to recover from the ravages of WW1 although the shadow of the next war is already there to see for the more perceptive of the population. 38-year-old Violet Speedwell, a spinster who lost her brother and fiancé at Paschendale and has never married, is living a stifling life with her domineering, martyred mother in Southampton, frustrated and unfulfilled but daunted by the thought of changing anything. Our first impression of her is that she is a timid sort whose life is passing her by, but there are early hints that there is mettle in there somewhere. Her occasional ‘sherry men’, for instance - anonymous hotel pick-ups for one-night stands. 

Sure enough, she decides to move to a Winchester for an independent life, albeit one of living in a boarding house and barely making ends meet as a typist in an insurance company. Wandering into the Cathedral one evening she stumbles upon a dedication ceremony for the Cathedral Broderers’ latest batch of needlepoint kneelers, an event which proves something of a turning point. Here she meets Gilda Hill, one of the broderers, and is drawn into the select society of ladies, under the tutelage of real-life character Miss Louisa Pesel who is the designer for the Cathedral embroidery project. She also meets Arthur Knight, one of the Cathedral bell ringers, whose wife’s mental health has been ravaged by the loss of their son in the war. 

The story is a gentle one, of Violet’s slow blossoming into confidence. There are many incidental pleasures along the way. Character development is a little predictable, but Tracy Chevalier does a decent job of showcasing the difficulties single women past marriageable age faced in the period between the wars: second-class status, limited employment opportunities, salaries which didn’t begin to reflect living costs without a husband to be the main breadwinner, the misery of a hand-to-mouth life in a female boarding-house which was the price of independence, being seen as fair game by a certain class of man. 

Along the way, Violet makes some good new friends, becomes a more open and tolerant person, gains insight into why her mother is so negative, and develops a quiet assertiveness which alters the dynamic of her relationships with her mother and her boss, to her advantage.

Without giving away any spoilers, I was rather disappointed that Violet's fulfilment comes in quite as conventional a format as it does, but over all this is a pleasant and undemanding feelgood read. I generally want a bit more from my fiction, but it passes the time on a holiday very nicely and is well done within its genre.

Tracy Chevalier can do no wrong in my opinion. I think this is the ninth book of hers that I have read and they are always a treat. Her writing is so detailed, well-researched and subtle. Violet is such a great character; left a spinster after the war she is expected just to spend the rest of her life living for her family, caring for her bitter mother – she doesn't – and you can't help rooting for her.
Historical fiction at its best, as always. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I so enjoyed this quiet book. It doesn't promise any jaw dropping revelations, but it deals with issues that were shocking then, and still being discussed and debated now. It has film adaptation written all over it, perhaps Rosamund Pike, with her dewy eyed innocence, and steely resolve. This book brought back many memories for me, both good and puzzling in equal turns.
Violet Speedwell, is 38 years old, and is a surplus woman. Her fiancé died in the war, ' to end all wars', and was treated as being unlikely to ever marry and enjoy children. Her fate, and others like Violet was to be a frustrated spinster, to become dependant upon family for her livelihood , so like Jane Austen, who did live in such a state, who is referred to constantly in this intriguing book.
I had a Aunt Ethel, who lived in this spinster state, no hope of marriage, as she too was ' ruined goods', after allowing her fiancé to have ' carnal knowledge ' , before he died at the age of twenty in Flanders. She became a mothers help to her eldest sister and her six children, and when they had no further need of her, went to take care of her parents. Such were the low expectations of these women, it was considered unusual for a single woman to want a career and live alone, and in this story , we are introduced to women, who not only live together,but are considered to be intimate, not having the need for a man in their lives. Whilst homosexuality was illegal, lesbianism was not. Queen Victoria couldn't believe that women did such things, and so there was no laws against this, but social condemnation of loose sexual morals, ensured that such women were treated with suspicion.
There are beautiful descriptions of genteel poverty on these pages, the hardships of a poorly paid job, nosey landladies and the threats expressed or implied against single ladies, who go out on their own at night. Violet meets some ladies who belong to the Winchester Cathedral Broderers group, who make cushions, kneelers and alms bags for the Cathedral, and finds that embroidery can induce a state of mindfulness, through peaceful and repetitive work. It is therapeutic and gives one time to dream and plan, and by doing work or good deeds for charity can give a sense of usefulness. I find exactly the same happiness when I do my knitting, the rhythm and gentle clicking of the needles, sets my mind free, its pure and liberating.
In this book, Violet is undertaking a pilgrimage of memories, her dead father, fiancé and brother. She meets another troubled soul, a campanologist , and they both become very close over the shared activity of bellringing. The repetition of peals and rounds, the certainty of mathematical formulae, bring both strength and constancy Into their lives, and the end result of this friendship is both forward and logical.
It brought back happy memories of my late father, a bell ringing captain of his local tower, so thank you for that.
A marvellous novel, written with such understanding and compassion. A repeat trip to Winchester is on the cards! I am fascinated by the story of Louise Pesel, who features in this book, as an embroiderer and was responsible for the creation of the cushions etc, that are a feature of this story. I want to learn more about her. I'd love to visit the bells, but sadly, I have no head for heights!!
A most creative book. A five star read.