A Single Thread

A Single Thread

First edition

Hardback (17 Sep 2019)

Not available for sale

Includes delivery to the United States

Out of stock

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Publisher's Synopsis

"A buoyant tale about the path to acceptance and joy--beginning, like all journeys, with one brave step."--People

"The best-selling novelist has done a masterful job of depicting the circumstances of a generation of women we seldom think about: the mothers, sisters, wives and fiances of men lost in World War I, whose job it was to remember those lost but not forgotten."--Associated Press

A BEST BOOK OF 2019 with The New York Public Library | USA TODAY | Real Simple | Good Housekeeping | Chicago Sun Time | TIME | PopSugar | The New York Post | Parade


1932. After the Great War took both her beloved brother and her fiancé, Violet Speedwell has become a "surplus woman," one of a generation doomed to a life of spinsterhood after the war killed so many young men. Yet Violet cannot reconcile herself to a life spent caring for her grieving, embittered mother. After countless meals of boiled eggs and dry toast, she saves enough to move out of her mother's place and into the town of Winchester, home to one of England's grandest cathedrals. There, Violet is drawn into a society of broderers--women who embroider kneelers for the Cathedral, carrying on a centuries-long tradition of bringing comfort to worshippers.

Violet finds support and community in the group, fulfillment in the work they create, and even a growing friendship with the vivacious Gilda. But when forces threaten her new independence and another war appears on the horizon, Violet must fight to put down roots in a place where women aren't expected to grow. Told in Chevalier's glorious prose, A Single Thread is a timeless story of friendship, love, and a woman crafting her own life.

About the Publisher

Viking

Viking

Viking publishes the widest possible range of literary fiction and non-fiction. Our fiction list includes John le Carré, Nick Hornby, Will Self, Colm Tóibín, Nicole Krauss, William Trevor, Catherine O' Flynn, Jonathan Coe, and Joshua Ferris. In non-fiction, the range covers current affairs, history, biography, memoir, narrative non-fiction, music and sport. Our authors include Antony Beevor, Andrew Rawnsley, Mark Bostridge, Sarah Bradford, Saul David, Catherine Bailey, Lynn Barber, Claire Tomalin and John Stubbs.

Book information

ISBN: 9780525558248
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Imprint: Viking
Pub date:
Edition: First edition
DEWEY: 813.54
DEWEY edition: 23
Language: English
Number of pages: 321
Weight: 533g
Height: 236mm
Width: 157mm
Spine width: 28mm