The beautifully told parallel experiences of two women living through the dregs of World War II and finding themselves facing unexpected aspects of motherhood alone. I read with bated breath, waiting for Violet and Violet to meet in some way, even just brushing past each other on the street, and yet the story would have held its lyrical prowess even if they’d never found each other.

This tells the stories of two women called Violet who navigate the transformative effects of loss, motherhood, and courage in its many forms, during the final years of world war two. This is a stunning and hypnotic debut novel that interweaves the two stories to create a poetic narrative that completely absorbed me. The author has done a fantastic job of evoking the touching, brave, and heartbreaking moments of everyday courage that occur, in a tender and gentle way. I really recommend this book!

Violets is a story of two women with the same name. We meet the first violet after a miscarriage, she is in hospital and her husband is being sent to Burma in the last months of the Second World War. Meanwhile, the other Violet is pregnant. It’s not that she doesn’t what to be, but as an unmarried woman in 1945 she is concerned about the problems a child out of wedlock might cause her and/or her family. Violets is beautifully written, between the poetry (aimed at the unborn child) and the intertwined stories, drawing parallels and obvious difference between these two women was interesting to read about. I really enjoyed it! It’s also lovely to see a book set in the countryside in 1945, where the war isn’t the main theme of the book. It was interesting to see there social side and female experience of the war.

Violets is the intertwining story of two women named Violet affected by motherhood amidst the Second World War. The chapters alternate between our two Violets in drastically different places, whilst common threads connect their experiences. Alex Hyde blends prose with poetic verse in the short vignettes which leaves an impactful, impressionistic narration of the lives of both Violets.

This is such a beautifully written story that just consumes you from the first line!!! This is a tale of two women with the same name , they are in the last days of the war and are living two very different lives. This intertwines their stories and sweeps you up and you become fully invested. It’s beautiful and poetic and just a gorgeous read through and through