The Secret Life of Violet Grant

Locations
Call Number: Fiction
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction	4-week checkout	On Shelf

"Passion, redemption, and a battered old suitcase full of secrets: the New York Times-bestselling author of A Hundred Summers returns with another engrossing tale of lost love and female ambition that crosses generations. Manhattan, 1964. Vivian Schuyler, newly graduated from Bryn Mawr College, has recently defied the privilege of her storied old Fifth Avenue family to do the unthinkable for a budding Kennedy-era socialite: break into the Mad Men world of razor-stylish Metropolitan magazine. But when she receives a bulky overseas parcel in the mail, the unexpected contents draw her inexorably back into her family's past, and the hushed-over crime passionnel of an aunt she never knew, whose existence has been wiped from the record of history. Berlin, 1914. Violet Schuyler Grant endures her marriage to the philandering and decades-older scientist Dr. Walter Grant for one reason: for all his faults, he provides the necessary support to her liminal position as a young American female physicist in prewar Germany. The arrival of Dr. Grant's magnetic former student at the beginning of Europe's fateful summer interrupts this delicate detente. Lionel Richardson, a captain in the British Army, challenges Violet to escape her husband's perverse hold, and as the world edges into war and Lionel's shocking true motives become evident, Violet is tempted to take the ultimate step to set herself free and seek a life of her own conviction with a man whose cause is as audacious as her own. As the iridescent and fractured Vivian digs deeper into her aunt's past and the mystery of her ultimate fate, Violet's story of determination and desire unfolds, shedding light on the darkness of her years abroad and teaching Vivian to reach forward with grace for the ambitious future--and the love--she wants most"-- Provided by publisher.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Perfect for beach submitted by kimberlybalk on July 10, 2019, 10:37pm Great summer read! The characters in this book were highly amusing!

Loved this Book! submitted by jgetty on January 25, 2021, 10:08am I loved the main character Vivian with her spunk and curiosity. The whole story was so amazingly woven. I'm amazed how authors can construct such intricate plots, that all come together at the end of the book. I enjoyed the historical fiction part of the story. I loved how the story went back and forth each chapter between the two characters Violet and Vivian. There was some unusual themes in the book regarding Violet's husband, but in the author notes she explains about this theme in history. The author notes are always very interesting as explanations to the story. It was a wonderful story, and I think it is part of a triology, so I'm investigating the next book.