This
was not the kind of book that I like to read. A succession of letters
without some real interaction between characters seems unexciting and
lacking in intrigue. But “Imagining Violet” was both surprising
and full of incident with a main character who was engaging and
beautifully written; a mark of the talented author. Violet’s
charming approach to life, together with her undoubted ambition to
become a concert violinist, in an age of Victorian expected “proper
behaviour” led to this reader rooting for her from the beginning.
We see her burgeoning growth from a mild mannered, young English rose
into a sophisticated woman.
The author has imagined the late-Victorian life of her own grandmother, with family photographs throughout the book, and with a collection of letters written by Violet to her family and friends. There are charming descriptions of Violet learning to ice skate, and when she plays at her first concert. There is the hoped-for romance, both suspected and real, with holidays filled with friends and acquaintances, and the smells, sights and sounds of Germany before the Weimar Republican era. This series of letters, written by Violet, who was born in Ireland and raised in Edinburgh, and who travels to Germany to advance her studies, are a fine example of the epistolary novel. It will appeal to anyone who enjoys historical novels with a difference and as I will in future.
The author has imagined the late-Victorian life of her own grandmother, with family photographs throughout the book, and with a collection of letters written by Violet to her family and friends. There are charming descriptions of Violet learning to ice skate, and when she plays at her first concert. There is the hoped-for romance, both suspected and real, with holidays filled with friends and acquaintances, and the smells, sights and sounds of Germany before the Weimar Republican era. This series of letters, written by Violet, who was born in Ireland and raised in Edinburgh, and who travels to Germany to advance her studies, are a fine example of the epistolary novel. It will appeal to anyone who enjoys historical novels with a difference and as I will in future.
Posted by G.J. Griffiths, UK based author of eleven books including The Quarry Bank Runaways and Fallen Hero
