Violet

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We spend the vast majority of our time with two characters: a shy little girl getting over her father’s death, and her mother who spends most of her day restoring a dilapidated house and obsessing over every little aspect of the job. And herein lies the root of my issues with the book. There was a massive amount of detail about the home restoration process. At least half the book is made up of the day-to-day trials and tribulations of home improvement. At times, it felt I was reading This Old House the novel. It was pretty tough to get through the first two thirds of this book, as it was largely uneventful. I enjoyed Scott Thomas debut novel so I was really looking forward to this one. It bought a fresh take on the haunted house narrative and had plenty of great set pieces, twists, and turns. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for this, his second novel.

Violeta Del Valle now 100, writes to her much loved grandson Camilo and tells him the story of her incredible life. Violeta was born in 1920 in the midst of the Spanish Flu epidemic which like everywhere else ravages Chile and she will die in 2020 during the Coronavirus pandemic, a strangely symmetrical coincidence of a life circle completed. It’s an amazing story of riches to rags following the 1929 Wall Street Crash and her family’s exile from the capital to Nahuel in the south of Chile where she blossoms. She tells of her loves and losses, her marriages, her passionate affairs one of which has a brutal element to it but which gave her children and her grandson Camilo, ‘her greatest love’. It charts her success as an astute business woman, we view women’s rights, political rights through which there’s a snapshot of Chile’s dramatic changes which have been well documented in her books and in others. The historical context is superb, it’s written with real clarity and includes stories of great bravery such as that of Albert Benoit. The story is told by the letters written to her grandson, starting from 1920’s to the present time, giving photographic, realistic descriptions about the places, cultures, traditions, customs so impeccably. You truly feel like you are transported to another time line, another continent, country, city and you may visualize everything the author tell you from her vivid, detailed, colorful perspective. Meanwhile, in a small welsh town, a different Violet finds herself pregnant, unwanted and alone. She follows an oversees posting to Naples in the hopes of concealing her pregnancy from her mother. Here she meets the vibrant and characteristic Maggie and the two form an unlikely friendship. vibrant stars for 100 colourful years that defined Violeta’s life. A story of love, tragedy, abuse and survival that is interwoven with the real historical events in South America. Set towards the end of the Second World War, the book tells the story of two women, both called Violet, with the narrative alternating seamlessly between the experiences of the two women.Interview with Charlotte Sullivan Wild, Author of "Love, Violet" ". Pride and Less Prejudice. February 14, 2022 . Retrieved March 18, 2022.

This is a profoundly unusual novel, an intricately composed and thoroughly corporeal portrait of the intertwined lives of two women during the war. Hyde is clearly a writer of talent and ambition: Violets suggests a glittering career ahead. As WW2 comes to an end, Violet lays in a hospital bed recovering from the loss of her pregnancy and the realisation that she can no longer have children. With her husband deployed and her friends preoccupied, she must try to regain some of her former self whilst also attempting to accept her new fate alone. Both women are changed by pregnancy, and Violet Owen is changed more radically by the experience of being claimed by a creature whose bodily needs take over hers. Released from a home for new mothers for a trip home to Wales, she keeps her baby a secret, and it’s almost as though her life remains unchanged since she was last there. But her motherhood asserts itself in the milk that spills painfully from her breasts, surreptitiously expressed into a glass in the night. The arbitrariness of birth and of blood ties is set hard up against the visceral inevitability of the mother-baby bond. One Violet happens to be married, the other isn’t; both are fitted to be mothers yet both are also aware of a world beyond motherhood and its restrictions, which is felt enticingly over the horizon. The relationship between motherhood and biology is possibly more fraught as an issue now than it was in the second world war. Hyde has found a way to make the past speak presciently to our times while also maintaining a playful relationship to a story that becomes unexpectedly moving, warm-hearted despite its flinty poetic prose. Scott Thomas has it in for Kansas. His debut novel, the acclaimed Kill Creek, took place in a haunted house in Kansas' rural countryside, and the author has returned to his native Sunflower State for his second standalone novel, Violet. There, however, the similarities end. Where Kill Creek was a meta-commentary on horror authors and their chosen genre, Violet is a direct, affecting, and psychologically thrilling slice of Midwestern gothic. Allende’s stories draw on deep knowledge of the historical period that makes this story feel authentic while the candid way the story is written allows the reader to identify with the characters, the story, and the dark themes very easily. So, whilst the story and themes are intense, they never feel heavy.

Violet Book Issue 15

I definitely recommend this book to those who want to read a gripping literary horror novel. This might even be a perfect gateway book for those who prefer literary works and are hoping to explore the horror genre. love, violet', 'when the angels left the old country' win 2023 stonewall children's & young adult literature award". American Library Association. 31 Jan 2023. ProQuest 2770939217– via Targeted News Service. The legend of the missing girls adds a delightfully foreboding atmosphere throughout the novel. The history surrounding the town is just as important as the present-day events. That said, Violet isn’t as scary as Thomas’s debut. However, the emphasis on character development and building the relationship between Kris and Sadie really made me genuinely fear for both of their safety.

Well that was an emotional ride ! We discover both violets in the wartime are both having similar experiences despite not being connected. However they are connected by the trials and cruelty of the war,motherhood and bloody men! Yes I know I'm a man but my feelings are to empathise with the female characters in the book . How you can not shed a tear if you read it then you're missing out! My emotions and sensitivity were all over the place. It's lyrical and poetic,beautiful and sad. But there is much to smile about too it's not depressive. I think Alex Hyde conjures up a real gem and I can't wait to read more from her works! This was a novel of discovery in a myriad of forms; of the response to grief, guilt, and so many more complex combinations of emotions. Firstly, by its strong element of biography, originating in the story of the end of World War II birth of the author’s father and in particular the stories of his birth and adoptive mothers (both with the same name)I was in my early 30s. Actually, I had my daughter around the same time that the first issue came out. I was pregnant on the cover shoot for the first issue of Violet (with Brit Marling) but I didn’t know it yet. I don’t think it is a coincidence that those things happened at the same time. She’s written over 20 books that have been translated into more than 35 languages. For those who can read her books in Spanish - are truly blessed. I must read them in English - and still feel blessed.