A Single Thread

I enjoyed A Single Thread. I think it summed up the dilemma women faced after WW1 and how women found strength in collective activities like the embroidery group. An interesting story. Ro 8/10


I had really enjoyed "Girl with a Pearl earring" so I was looking forward to "A Single Thread" It's a very different story. I liked Violet's character and very much enjoyed the information about the embroidery and bellringing. I felt very sorry for Violet's generation of women so affected by the war. I was a little disappointed by the ending as I felt it was a bit hurried and the implication that women are only complete if they have children. Linda 7/10


Violet's brother and fiance were killed in World War 1. She finds herself as a surplus 38 year old single women in 1932 with little chance of marrying and having to find ways to support herself.
She's had enough of caring for her grieving, overbearing, critical mother and summons up enough courage to leave her behind in Southampton. She moves to Winchester to live in a boarding house with other single women and work as a typist with 2 much younger women who treat Violet as an object to be pitied.

Violet visits Winchester cathedral and discovers a group of women called broderers who embroider kneelers and cushions, lead by Louisa Pesel, who was a real person. Violet asserts herself to become a member of the group developing her embroidery skills and becoming entwined in their lives and secrets.

Violet befriends Gilda and develops a friendship with Arthur, a married bell ringer.

Violet becomes more assertive and lives an independent life making decisions which mean her life takes a different course to the one she was expecting. Annette 7/10