A Single Thread

In 1932, Violet Speedwell is one of Britain’s so-called surplus women, unmarried after the First World War killed both her fiancé and one of her brothers. Unable to endure life with her embittered mother, she moves to Winchester and supports herself as a typist. Her wages leave little room for comfort, and the freedom she has gained is threatened by loneliness, social judgement and the limited choices available to single women.

Violet discovers the Winchester Cathedral Broderers, a volunteer group led by the real textile designer Louisa Pesel, and begins stitching cushions and kneelers for the cathedral. Through embroidery, bell-ringing and friendships that challenge conventional respectability, she starts to create a permanent place for herself. The novel follows her struggle for economic and emotional independence while the Depression and the rise of fascism foreshadow another European war.