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gmh711 's review for:
A Single Thread
by Tracy Chevalier
I loved this book! I confess I enjoy all Chevalier's books, but this one especially. Like [b:The Lady and the Unicorn|89788|The Lady and the Unicorn|Tracy Chevalier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1311281285l/89788._SY75_.jpg|851956] this book features female artists and artisans.
Violet Speedwell is on the way to becoming a spinster. Her fiance and brother were killed in the Great War leaving her grieving and loveless. Like many women of that age, the millions of casualties of that war left her with poor chances of marrying. Violet has spent all of her 38 years living with her mother, whose own grief has left her a bitter, selfish parent. Violet makes the bold decision to move from her home in Southampton to Winchester, the site of a centuries old cathedral. Although her meager wages leave her hungry and without the latest fashions, for the first time in her life she feels free.
At first she is friendless with no activities or diversions until one day at lunch she ventures into Winchester Cathedral where she witnesses a service blessing the newly created embroidered (needlepoint) kneeling cushions. She is drawn to the women's pride in their work and their spirit of camaraderie. She is welcomed (by some more than others) to their group and so begins her new life. She is drawn into the circle of women as she develops her skills as a broderer. She also meets the men who ring the bells of the catherdral who practice the English art of change ringing and is drawn to one particular ringer.
I found the author's detailed descriptions of the embroidery as well as the lesson in the complicated patterns of bell-ringing fascinating. I enjoyed even more getting to know the women in the guild, and the societal roles and stereotypes of that generation, and how some women found a way to live their lives in spite of the prejudices.
Violet Speedwell is on the way to becoming a spinster. Her fiance and brother were killed in the Great War leaving her grieving and loveless. Like many women of that age, the millions of casualties of that war left her with poor chances of marrying. Violet has spent all of her 38 years living with her mother, whose own grief has left her a bitter, selfish parent. Violet makes the bold decision to move from her home in Southampton to Winchester, the site of a centuries old cathedral. Although her meager wages leave her hungry and without the latest fashions, for the first time in her life she feels free.
At first she is friendless with no activities or diversions until one day at lunch she ventures into Winchester Cathedral where she witnesses a service blessing the newly created embroidered (needlepoint) kneeling cushions. She is drawn to the women's pride in their work and their spirit of camaraderie. She is welcomed (by some more than others) to their group and so begins her new life. She is drawn into the circle of women as she develops her skills as a broderer. She also meets the men who ring the bells of the catherdral who practice the English art of change ringing and is drawn to one particular ringer.
I found the author's detailed descriptions of the embroidery as well as the lesson in the complicated patterns of bell-ringing fascinating. I enjoyed even more getting to know the women in the guild, and the societal roles and stereotypes of that generation, and how some women found a way to live their lives in spite of the prejudices.