Book Review: A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier

It is 1932, and the losses of the First World War are still keenly felt.

Violet Speedwell, mourning for both her fiancé and her brother and regarded by society as a ‘surplus woman’ unlikely to marry, resolves to escape her suffocating mother and strike out alone.

I normally love Tracy Chevalier's books. But this was the first one which left me cold.

It was just so... drab. The politics felt tacked on - to the point where I laughed aloud at the following dialogue:

“Arthur, whatever is the matter?” Violet whispered.

There was a long pause.

“Hitler,” he replied, not bothering to keep his voice low. “Hitler is the bloody matter.”

In the end, perhaps I just don't care enough about embroidered cushions in a church. I was expecting something as grandiose as "Pillars of the Earth" - instead, I got "Pillows of the Church."