A Single Thread
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $26.22
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Fenella Woolgar
-
Written by:
-
Tracy Chevalier
About this listen
"A buoyant tale about the path to acceptance and joy--beginning, like all journeys, with one brave step." (People)
"The best-selling novelist has done a masterful job of depicting the circumstances of a generation of women we seldom think about: the mothers, sisters, wives and fiances of men lost in World War I, whose job it was to remember those lost but not forgotten." (Associated Press)
1932. After the Great War took both her beloved brother and her fiancé, Violet Speedwell has become a "surplus woman," one of a generation doomed to a life of spinsterhood after the war killed so many young men. Yet Violet cannot reconcile herself to a life spent caring for her grieving, embittered mother. After countless meals of boiled eggs and dry toast, she saves enough to move out of her mother's place and into the town of Winchester, home to one of England's grandest cathedrals. There, Violet is drawn into a society of broderers - women who embroider kneelers for the Cathedral, carrying on a centuries-long tradition of bringing comfort to worshippers.
Violet finds support and community in the group, fulfillment in the work they create, and even a growing friendship with the vivacious Gilda. But when forces threaten her new independence and another war appears on the horizon, Violet must fight to put down roots in a place where women aren't expected to grow. Told in Chevalier's glorious prose, A Single Thread is a timeless story of friendship, love, and a woman crafting her own life.
©2019 Tracy Chevalier (P)2019 Penguin AudioYou may also enjoy...
-
The London Bookshop Affair
- A Novel of the Cold War
- Written by: Louise Fein
- Narrated by: Marisa Calin
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
London, 1962: The world is teetering on the brink of nuclear war but life must go on. Celia Duchesne longs for a career, but with no means or qualifications, passes her time working at a dusty bookshop. The day a handsome American enters the shop, she thinks she might have found her way out of the monotony. Just as the excitement of a budding relationship engulfs her, a devastating secret draws her into the murky world of espionage.
-
-
Connected Story Across Two Timelines
- By liveformemories on 2024-01-30
Written by: Louise Fein
-
The Apple Orchard
- Bella Vista, Book 1
- Written by: Susan Wiggs
- Narrated by: Christina Traister
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tess Delaney makes a living restoring stolen treasures to their rightful owners. People like Annelise Winther, who refuses to sell her long-gone mother’s beloved necklace - despite Tess’s advice. To Annelise, the jewel’s value is in its memories. But Tess’s own history is filled with gaps: a father she never met, a mother who spent more time traveling than with her daughter. So Tess is shocked when she discovers the grandfather she never knew is in a coma. And that she has been named in his will to inherit half of Bella Vista, a 100-acre apple orchard in the magical Sonoma town called Archangel. The rest is willed to Isabel Johansen. A half-sister she’s never heard of.
Written by: Susan Wiggs
-
The Fountains of Silence
- Written by: Ruta Sepetys
- Narrated by: Ruta Sepetys, Maite Jáuregui, Richard Ferrone, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Madrid, 1957. Under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists and foreign businessmen flood into Spain under the welcoming promise of sunshine and wine. Among them is 18-year-old Daniel Matheson, the son of an oil tycoon, who arrives in Madrid with his parents hoping to connect with the country of his mother's birth through the lens of his camera. Photography - and fate - introduce him to Ana, whose family's interweaving obstacles reveal the lingering grasp of the Spanish Civil War.
-
-
Love the Spanish accent
- By ZoeC on 2021-01-30
Written by: Ruta Sepetys
-
The Paris Agent
- Written by: Kelly Rimmer
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden, Fiona Hardingham, Emma Fenney
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty-five years after the end of the war, Noah Ainsworth is still preoccupied with those perilous, exhilarating years as a British SOE operative in France. A head injury sustained on his final operation has caused frustrating gaps in his memory—in particular about the agent who saved his life during that mission gone wrong, whose real name he never knew, nor whether she even survived the war.
-
-
Haunting story
- By Lynn on 2024-10-11
Written by: Kelly Rimmer
-
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle
- A Novel
- Written by: Jennifer Ryan
- Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After renowned fashion designer Cressida Westcott loses both her home and her design house in the London Blitz, she has nowhere to go but the family manor house she fled decades ago. Praying that her niece and nephew will be more hospitable than her brother had been, she arrives with nothing but the clothes she stands in, at a loss as to how to rebuild her business while staying in a quaint country village.
-
-
Excellent
- By Ana B. on 2023-11-12
Written by: Jennifer Ryan
-
The Masterpiece
- A Novel
- Written by: Fiona Davis
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this latest captivating novel, New York Times best-selling author Fiona Davis takes listeners into the glamorous lost art school within Grand Central Terminal, where two very different women, 50 years apart, strive to make their mark on a world set against them. For most New Yorkers, Grand Central Terminal is a crown jewel, a masterpiece of design. But for Clara Darden and Virginia Clay, it represents something quite different. For Clara, the terminal is the stepping stone to her future. It is 1928, and Clara is teaching at the lauded Grand Central School of Art.
-
-
An excellent conclusion…
- By Rozmc on 2022-09-02
Written by: Fiona Davis
-
The London Bookshop Affair
- A Novel of the Cold War
- Written by: Louise Fein
- Narrated by: Marisa Calin
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
London, 1962: The world is teetering on the brink of nuclear war but life must go on. Celia Duchesne longs for a career, but with no means or qualifications, passes her time working at a dusty bookshop. The day a handsome American enters the shop, she thinks she might have found her way out of the monotony. Just as the excitement of a budding relationship engulfs her, a devastating secret draws her into the murky world of espionage.
-
-
Connected Story Across Two Timelines
- By liveformemories on 2024-01-30
Written by: Louise Fein
-
The Apple Orchard
- Bella Vista, Book 1
- Written by: Susan Wiggs
- Narrated by: Christina Traister
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tess Delaney makes a living restoring stolen treasures to their rightful owners. People like Annelise Winther, who refuses to sell her long-gone mother’s beloved necklace - despite Tess’s advice. To Annelise, the jewel’s value is in its memories. But Tess’s own history is filled with gaps: a father she never met, a mother who spent more time traveling than with her daughter. So Tess is shocked when she discovers the grandfather she never knew is in a coma. And that she has been named in his will to inherit half of Bella Vista, a 100-acre apple orchard in the magical Sonoma town called Archangel. The rest is willed to Isabel Johansen. A half-sister she’s never heard of.
Written by: Susan Wiggs
-
The Fountains of Silence
- Written by: Ruta Sepetys
- Narrated by: Ruta Sepetys, Maite Jáuregui, Richard Ferrone, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Madrid, 1957. Under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists and foreign businessmen flood into Spain under the welcoming promise of sunshine and wine. Among them is 18-year-old Daniel Matheson, the son of an oil tycoon, who arrives in Madrid with his parents hoping to connect with the country of his mother's birth through the lens of his camera. Photography - and fate - introduce him to Ana, whose family's interweaving obstacles reveal the lingering grasp of the Spanish Civil War.
-
-
Love the Spanish accent
- By ZoeC on 2021-01-30
Written by: Ruta Sepetys
-
The Paris Agent
- Written by: Kelly Rimmer
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden, Fiona Hardingham, Emma Fenney
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty-five years after the end of the war, Noah Ainsworth is still preoccupied with those perilous, exhilarating years as a British SOE operative in France. A head injury sustained on his final operation has caused frustrating gaps in his memory—in particular about the agent who saved his life during that mission gone wrong, whose real name he never knew, nor whether she even survived the war.
-
-
Haunting story
- By Lynn on 2024-10-11
Written by: Kelly Rimmer
-
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle
- A Novel
- Written by: Jennifer Ryan
- Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After renowned fashion designer Cressida Westcott loses both her home and her design house in the London Blitz, she has nowhere to go but the family manor house she fled decades ago. Praying that her niece and nephew will be more hospitable than her brother had been, she arrives with nothing but the clothes she stands in, at a loss as to how to rebuild her business while staying in a quaint country village.
-
-
Excellent
- By Ana B. on 2023-11-12
Written by: Jennifer Ryan
-
The Masterpiece
- A Novel
- Written by: Fiona Davis
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this latest captivating novel, New York Times best-selling author Fiona Davis takes listeners into the glamorous lost art school within Grand Central Terminal, where two very different women, 50 years apart, strive to make their mark on a world set against them. For most New Yorkers, Grand Central Terminal is a crown jewel, a masterpiece of design. But for Clara Darden and Virginia Clay, it represents something quite different. For Clara, the terminal is the stepping stone to her future. It is 1928, and Clara is teaching at the lauded Grand Central School of Art.
-
-
An excellent conclusion…
- By Rozmc on 2022-09-02
Written by: Fiona Davis
-
The Flight Girls
- Written by: Noelle Salazar
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1941. Audrey Coltrane has always wanted to fly. It's why she implored her father to teach her at the little airfield back home in Texas. It’s why she signed up to train military pilots in Hawaii when the war in Europe began. And it’s why she insists she is not interested in any dream-derailing romantic involvements, even with the disarming Lieutenant James Hart, who fast becomes a friend as treasured as the women with whom she flies. Then one fateful day, she gets caught in the air over Pearl Harbor just as the bombs begin to fall, and suddenly, nowhere feels safe.
-
-
Narrator Sounds Like a Sheep
- By Kelsey on 2020-09-09
Written by: Noelle Salazar
-
The Chilbury Ladies' Choir
- A Novel
- Written by: Jennifer Ryan
- Narrated by: Gabrielle Glaister, Laura Kirman, Imogen Wilde, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As England enters World War II's dark early days, spirited music professor Primrose Trent, recently arrived to the village of Chilbury, emboldens the women of the town to defy the Vicar's stuffy edict to shutter the church's choir in the absence of men and instead carry on singing. Resurrecting themselves as The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, the women of this small village soon use their joint song to lift up themselves and the community as the war tears through their lives.
-
-
Enjoyed this book
- By Valerie on 2019-03-07
Written by: Jennifer Ryan
-
Sipsworth
- Written by: Simon Van Booy
- Narrated by: Christine Rendel
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following the deaths of her husband and son, Helen Cartwright returns to the English village of her childhood after living abroad for six decades. Her only wish is to die quickly and without fuss. Helen retreats into her home on Westminster Crescent, becoming a creature of routine and habit. Then, one cold autumn night, a chance encounter with an abandoned pet mouse on the street outside her house sets Helen on a surprising journey of friendship.
-
-
Absolutely loved this novel
- By Mer on 2024-12-11
Written by: Simon Van Booy
-
Once upon a Wardrobe
- Written by: Patti Callahan
- Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1950: Margaret Devonshire (Megs) is a 17-year-old student of mathematics and physics at Oxford University. When her beloved eight-year-old brother asks Megs if Narnia is real, logical Megs tells him it’s just a book for children, and certainly not true. Homebound due to his illness, and remaining fixated on his favorite books, George presses her to ask the author of the recently released novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a question: “Where did Narnia come from?”
-
-
Beautiful read
- By Linda on 2024-11-20
Written by: Patti Callahan
-
We Must Be Brave
- Written by: Frances Liardet
- Narrated by: Jayne Entwistle, Juliet Mills
- Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
December 1940. As German bombs fall on Southampton, England, the city's residents flee to the surrounding villages. In Upton village, amid the chaos, newly married Ellen Parr finds a girl asleep, unclaimed at the back of an empty bus. Little Pamela, it seems, is entirely alone. Ellen has always believed she does not want children, but when she takes Pamela into her home, the child cracks open the past Ellen thought she had escaped and the future she and her husband, Selwyn, had dreamed for themselves. As the war rages on, love grows where it was least expected, surprising them all.
-
-
I couldn't love this book more.
- By Anonymous User on 2021-04-08
Written by: Frances Liardet
-
Catherine the Great & Potemkin
- The Imperial Love Affair
- Written by: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
- Length: 27 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Catherine the Great was a woman of notorious passion and imperial ambition. Prince Potemkin was the love of her life and her co-ruler. Together they seized Ukraine and Crimea, territories that define the Russian sphere of influence to this day. Their affair was so tumultuous that they negotiated an arrangement to share power, leaving each of them free to take younger lovers. But these “twin souls” never stopped loving each other.
Written by: Simon Sebag Montefiore
-
The Cartographer's Secret
- Written by: Tea Cooper
- Narrated by: Casey Withoos
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A gripping historical mystery for fans of Kate Morton and Natasha Lester’s The Paris Seamstress, The Cartographer’s Secret follows a young woman’s quest to heal a family rift as she becomes entangled in one of Australia’s greatest historical puzzles.
Written by: Tea Cooper
-
The Book of Lost Friends
- A Novel
- Written by: Lisa Wingate
- Narrated by: Sophie Amoss, Sullivan Jones, Robin Miles, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Before We Were Yours comes a dramatic historical novel of three young women searching for family amid the destruction of the post-Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who learns of their story and its vital connection to her students’ lives.
-
-
a satisfying and aurhentic read
- By Sandra on 2020-07-09
Written by: Lisa Wingate
-
Tripping on Utopia
- Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science
- Written by: Benjamin Breen
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bold and brilliant revisionist take on the history of psychedelics in the twentieth century, illuminating how a culture of experimental drugs shaped the Cold War and the birth of Silicon Valley....
Written by: Benjamin Breen
-
The Witches of St. Petersburg
- A Novel
- Written by: Imogen Edwards-Jones
- Narrated by: Kathleen Gati
- Length: 15 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As daughters of the impoverished King of Montenegro, Militza and Stana must fulfill their duty to their father and leave their beloved home for St. Petersburg to be married into senior positions in the Romanov court. For their new alliances to the Russian nobility will help secure the future of the sisters’ native country. Immediately, Militza and Stana feel like outcasts as the aristocracy shuns them for their provincial ways and for dabbling in the occult. Undeterred, the sisters become resolved to make their mark by falling in with the lonely, depressed Tsarina Alexandra.
-
-
Woah!
- By Alice Fradette-Roy on 2019-04-08
Written by: Imogen Edwards-Jones
-
The Only Woman in the Room
- Written by: Marie Benedict
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Her beauty almost certainly saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms dealer. Underestimated in everything else, she overheard the Third Reich's plans while at her husband's side, understanding more than anyone would guess. She devised a plan to flee in disguise from their castle, and the whirlwind escape landed her in Hollywood. She became Hedy Lamarr, screen star.
-
-
One amazing woman
- By L. Fullerton on 2021-06-22
Written by: Marie Benedict
-
The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre
- Written by: Natasha Lester
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alix St. Pierre. An unforgettable name for an unforgettable woman. She grew up surrounded by Hollywood glamor, but, as an orphan, never truly felt part of that world. In 1943, with WWII raging and men headed overseas to fight, she lands a publicity job to recruit women into the workforce. Her skills—persuasion, daring, quick-witted under pressure—catch the attention of the U.S. government and she finds herself with an even bigger assignment: sent to Switzerland as a spy. Soon Alix is on the precipice of something big, very big. But how far can she trust her German informant…?
-
-
Women ahead of their time.
- By mdickens4 on 2023-12-04
Written by: Natasha Lester
What the critics say
A Best Book of 2019 with The New York Public Library | USA Today | Real Simple | Good Housekeeping | Chicago Sun Times | Time | PopSugar | The New York Post | Parade
"Set in the 1930s, Chevalier's new novel follows a woman whose fiance died in Wold War I and who finds a sense of community among the guild of needlewomen embroidering kneelers for the pews at one of Britain's great cathedrals." (New York Times Book Review)
"In times of grave discomfort, Tracy Chevalier offers a welcome respite...with manners and chortle-inducing humor that would make Jane Austen proud." (USA Today)
"The plot, and Chevalier's delicate handling of Violet's love interest, is seamless.... A Single Thread is a fascinating story about building something long-lasting by beginning with one small stich." (NPR)
What listeners say about A Single Thread
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ella
- 2019-12-31
Wonderful!
I thoroughly enjoyed this story!! Peaceful, serene and stoic strength that inspires me! Well narrated!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2020-02-04
A great listen
Ms. Woolgar’s performance made the story come alive. We are brought back to a period of recent history feeling both the social and the political times. The slow paced reading made it better to appreciate.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Christine Surina
- 2022-05-14
WONDERFUL Read !!!
I have listened to this book twice !!I love Tracy C writing … a terrific tale of the people of Winchester and Southampton after the first war and leading to the second and the coming together of woman who LOVE embroidery… the telling of their lives !!! And a nasty character thrown in …Great story ❤️
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Susan watts
- 2023-12-23
Lovely story of becoming independent.
The narrator has a lovely voice, the main character’s family challenges and how she pursued her independence and found happiness. After reading this story I went out and bought English tea, lots of tea drinking in this book. There is a very good appreciation of needlework well done.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!