Violets
by Alex Hyde
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Pub Date 3 Feb 2022 | Archive Date 11 Feb 2022
Granta Publications | Granta Books
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Description
From a lyrical new voice in British fiction, an astonishing debut novel of motherhood and loss in the dying days of the Second World War - for readers of Max Porter and Pat Barker.
A young woman, Violet, lies in a hospital bed in the closing days of the war. Her pregnancy is over and she is no longer able to conceive. With her husband deployed to the Pacific Front and her friends caught up in transitory love affairs, she must find a way to put herself back together.
In a small, watchful town in the Welsh valleys, another Violet contemplates the fate she shares with her unborn child. Unwed and unwanted, an overseas posting offers a temporary way out. Plunged into the heat and disorder of Naples, her body begins to reveal the responsibility it carries even as she is drawn into the burnished circle of a charismatic new friend, Maggie.
Between these two Violets, sung into being like a babe in a nursery rhyme: a son. As their lives begin to intertwine, a spellbinding story of women's courage emerges, suffused with power, lyricism and beauty, from an exhilarating new voice in British fiction.
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9781783787272 |
| PRICE | £12.99 (GBP) |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Emma R, Reviewer
If you loved Small Pleasures from Clare Chambers, then you’ll adore Alex Hyde’s debut…
I devoured this book in hours thanks to its engaging prose and fully formed characters. Violet, two Violets in fact, who live separate lives during the Second World War. Set during the dying days of the war, this beautiful debut tells the story of loss and motherhood through two very different lenses for each of our Violet’s, with one living in the Welsh Valleys and grappling with the loss of a baby and future procreation, and another who is serving in the war on the frontline, carrying a baby out of wedlock and removed from the identity she sees for herself.
Their stories, both unique and yet the same in many ways, slowly intertwine as the story progresses, as their stories progress, with a finish that is both unexpected but deeply satisfying as an invested reader.
I couldn’t put this book down and when I did, I couldn’t stop thinking about these two women. They are multi-dimensional, complex and rich in detail; I became close to them and invested in them. Hyde writes beautifully, with all of the rage, hope, optimism and defeat you want when digesting the complexity of the female experience. A triumph.
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