Tracy Chevalier has written a book about the the complexities of women's lives in the early nineteenth century following the first world war. A surprising little sleeper of a novel. Found this one and thought it was not going anywhere at the beginning but then, it surprised me by dealing with some interesting topics that would have been kept behind closed doors in 1932.
If you are not following the prescribed pattern of marriage and family, then you are a spinster who should stay home and take care of your aging parents. To deviate from that path is frowned upon and confuses the world around you.
Meet Violet Speedwell who is an unmarried woman who is frustrated by the expected norms of her time. She is labeled a surplus woman, one of many who are not married and their chances of finding a husband are reduced by the loss of men's lives in World War One. Running away from a disagreeable mother who has lost both her son to war and her husband, is always sharing her negativity toward Violet.
Violet moves to a neighboring town, gets a job as a typist and takes a room in a boarding house. She tries to make friends and fill her life with interesting activities. She finds her fulfillment with a group of broderers, women who create embroidery for seat cushions and other decorative objects for the church. She discovers that she loves being a broderer, feeling apart of the group of women at the local church who embroider seat cushions and kneelers.
Violet shows her confidence as she negotiates with her boss for an increase in salary and more heat in the office. She spreads her wings as she makes friends and connects with her brother and his family. She even looks for love. Thus finding companionship and creating art that will leave her legacy, Violet is content, until things happen that could shake up the comfort she has built. There are some unexpected twists and turns in the quiet novel.
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