A friend shared The Secret Life of Violet Grant with me as her summer reading recommendation; happily, it had been on my list long enough that my turn on the library's waitlist came up just a week later. And what a great recommendation - I loved, loved, loved every page of this book, which is especially notable since I'm often ambivalent at best about dual-narrative fiction. So.
Narrative 1: It's 1964 and Vivian Schuyler, recent college graduate and aspiring writer (but current lackey) at New York's "Metropolitan" magazine receives a package, which turns out to be a suitcase addressed to Violet Grant, a great-aunt whose existence was heretofore unknown to Vivian. What's more the suitcase once belonged to Violet, who was last heard from 50 years earlier in pre-(first) world war Europe. Curiosity sparked, Vivian determines to unravel the mystery of who Violet Grant was and why her suitcase has re-appeared in New York.
Narrative 2: It's 1912-14 and Violet Schuyler Grant has defied all expectations for her class and gender by moving to England to pursue scientific studies at Oxford. Seduced by a fellow scientist, they marry and move to Berlin, where they have front-row seats to preparations for war. As the continent heads for calamity, Violet is drawn further into the orbit of a mysterious British army officer who formerly studied with her husband.
Beatriz Williams has written both of these narratives beautifully, and each is so complete that it could have comprised a lovely little read on its own. She has also carefully crafted the intersection of the two stories so that in the end The Secret Life of Violet Grant comes together perfectly. Williams gets bonus points for her epilogue, with an unexpected twist, which is always the most welcome kind.
Five stars.
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