Through the eyes of Violet Speedwell this story considers the plight of the many women who, because of the deaths of husbands or fiancés in the Great War, found no obvious role in society. It’s set in the early 1930s. Men were so greatly outnumbered by women that the role of spinster mainly meant life in your parents’ home – a permanent childhood in a way – or working for a living on inadequate wages and living in a room in a lodging house. With her flaws and contradictions, I was rooting for Violet. Everything, including a monstrous mother still devastated by the loss of her elder son in the war, was stacked against her. She was her own woman, and I loved the way she dealt with the blows and didn’t lose herself in the process. She also befriended two similar aged ladies who became a lesbian couple. She was warned off being seen with them in case it affected her, too, as though it were a contagion. The world wasn’t ready to acknowledge that as a valid relationship at the time. It’s a great book which covers some important issues for that generation.

What I love about Tracy Chevalier’s novels is the way she transforms the commonplace into the fascinating and A Single Thread is no exception. Set in the early 1930’s and following the deaths of both her brother and fiancé in 1917, Violet craves a life for herself away from her overbearing responsibilities as companion to her widowed mother.. She relocates from Southampton to Winchester where she joins a group of broderers to alleviate her loneliness through which Violet is introduced to the intricate beauty and art of bell-ringing. Thus begins her journey into a richly woven tapestry of new experiences and love, enabling her brave and socially controversial personal choices. Fascinating insights into Louisa Pesel, her broderers and her canvas embroideries still in use at Winchester Cathedral today.. A brilliant novel!

I haven’t read any books by Tracy Chevalier before but this was a great introduction.
Violet Speedwell is a ‘surplus woman’ whose fiancé died in World War One and is now considered a spinster but she wants something more. I loved the history of this book as learnt about women after World War One. Violet move away from her domineering mother and tries to find herself a new life. This includes joining a group embroidering kneeler and alms bags for the church.
I was fascinated to learn some of the characters were real people and the history was also true.
It was an easy read and I would pick up another book by Tracy in the future.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've enjoyed other books by Tracy Chevalier but found this one a little underwhelming. Don't get me wrong, it's well-written and has plenty to teach for those who enjoy learning about new things, but there seemed to be a sense of purposelessness about it. As a snapshot of Winchester Cathedral and life in the surrounding country at a certain period of post-war rebuilding and a time of social change, I found it interesting and informative. But I didn't get a sense that the characters were very well-rounded; they seemed to be there to illustrate how people used to feel about women working, or lesbians, or spinsters. I wasn't sure why the love interest had to be over twenty years older than the protagonist- wasn't the fact of his marriage enough to raise the stakes? Also despite the insistence on British provincial prudery and sexual oppression, there was quite a bit of unfettered sauciness going on in fields and alleys!
If you like Chevalier, you will like this - she's a gifted writer with an observant eye for detail, but this one felt a little bit like an extended wikipedia entry on embroidery at times.

I’ve read many of Tracey Chevalier’s books, and so approach a new one with expectation for good writing backed up by strong historical research. This one didn’t disappoint.

I warmed to Violet, the late-thirties protagonist between the wars whose family and future was decimated by World War I, with her older brother and fiancé both killed in action and a surviving mother marked by bitterness. Violet escapes her mother’s oppressive house in Southampton to go work in Winchester, a typist, where she starts to build her life. Her faith rocked by all of the loss, she starts to find solace in Winchester Cathedral. And community in the broderers, those who craft the kneelers and other needlepoint articles.

The novel focuses on the broderers and bellringers, two parts of the Cathedral community which are often overlooked. I enjoyed how she brought these art-creators to life, but sometimes I skimmed through the longer descriptions.

As I neared the end of the book, I wondered how Chevalier would tie up the relationships. I guessed the main action of the ending, which sadly seemed predictable from a modern novelist. Still, a book I would recommend.

This beautiful story is a homage to Winchester Cathedral and Louisa Pesel. I had not heard of Louisa before reading this book but as soon as I had finished 'A Single Thread' I started to investigate her life and work online. She was an embroiderer and teacher of considerable renown who among many other projects was responsible for the embroidered cushions, kneelers and alms bags in Winchester Cathedral. Louisa is not the main character in this historical novel, set in 1932 Winchester, by Tracy Chevalier. However she is a very central pin and comes across as a very sympathetic character who has been well researched by Chevalier. I loved finding an online photo of Pesel riding a camel, an event referred to a couple of times in the novel.

The central character is the fictitious Violet Speedwell, living initially with her mother following the death of her older brother and her fiancée during World War 1 and the subsequent death of her father. Violet's mother is overbearing and negative, restricting Violet's ability to have any kind of life. So Violet makes the decision to move to Winchester where she lives in a boarding house for ladies, works as a typist, finds embroidery and bell ringing, very good friends and a full life. Violet, her family and the characters she meets are all carefully created and I got a real feel for many of them, as Chevalier uses dialogue very cleverly to develop her characters.

The 1930's setting is well researched and described, giving insight particularly into attitudes to single women and the lasting impact of war on a generation. The threat of HItler and fascism is in the background of the book but does not dominate the narrative.

By the end of this lovely book I not only wanted to find out more about Louisa Pesel but also am looking forward to revisiting WInchester Cathedral with newly informed eyes and perhaps to trying out some embroidery, though I think I'll leave the bell ringing for now.

A Single Thread is what I would call a quiet book. There are no twists and turns, no showy structural points, no shocking revelations. It's a lovely book about life between the wars and how the first world war affected so many people. I loved it.

Violet Speedwell lost her brother and her fiancé during the war. Now 38, her father has died and she is determined not to continue living at home with her mother who constantly niggles at her. She moves to Winchester and seeing the embroidered kneelers in the cathedral there she decides to learn to stitch. Life as a single woman is hard. She barely has enough to live on but the freedom she has is worth the sacrifice and eventually she finds love though not where you might expect.

There is a lot about embroidery in this book and bellringing. I love it when I can learn about something new when reading fiction. But it is the characters who shine. They are all fully developed and well drawn to the extent that I wanted to strangle Violet's mother at times! Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

I loved this book. Tracy Chevalier conjures up the 1930's beautifully, and we are reminded that this was not an easy time to be an unmarried woman, without money. She conveys very well what it is to be hungry, and cold, and a second-class citizen in a man's world. But the central character Violet isn't a character to be pitied. She makes a life for herself, on pretty much her own terms, and throughout the book the reader is full of sympathy, and empathy for her. The book has made me want to visit Winchester, and its cathedral, and also read those of the author's books that I haven't already read. I will definitely be recommending this book.

‘A Single Thread’ is a wonderfully written story, set in the early 1930s, which explores the lives of civilians damaged by the fallout of the First World War. At its centre is Violet Speedwell whose fiancé and brother both died during the War. Escaping her embittered mother, she moves to Winchester to live in a dreary boarding house. Busy with her typing job by day, on a whim Violet learns needlepoint so that she may contribute to Louisa Pesel and her broderers’ project in the cathedral.
Hardly a tempting synopsis, one might think. However, Tracey Chevalier’s storytelling is so subtle, so sensitive and so deft that the reader is quickly immersed in the world of respectable, dowdy 1930s provincial England where, below the surface, Fascism rumbles, depression is common, homophobia is rife and women are always seen as second-rate. Rather like Barbara Pym or Anita Brookner, Chevalier is able to take the mundane and elevate it to a thoughtful exploration of complex humanity. Her characters can be selfish, hypocritical, fearful and exploitative and yet we are made to understand why rather than encouraged to judge. At the same time, the author reminds us that people can be surprisingly resilient. Her men and women are able to change for the better, show bravery and patience, learn new skills and behave generously in the most trying of circumstances.
Winchester Cathedral is a character in itself and there will be many who will be tempted to visit this historic building after reading ‘A Single Thread’. When they have been so richly and intricately described on paper, who will be able to resist the opportunity to see Louisa Pesel’s beautifully designed needlepoint designs for real? Who won’t want to be called by the bells?
A beautifully told tale. At its conclusion, the author avoids sentimentality, yet allows some blessings to fall upon her characters. Meanwhile, on the continent Hitler rises, stormtroopers march and swastikas fly.
My thanks to NetGalley and The Borough Press, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

was actually quite surprised how much I enjoyed reading this. I did not think I would enjoy it as much as I have. i do enjoy reading books from this era and really enjoyed the journey

well done to the author