
A Single Thread
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $20.25
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
-
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 AudioCritic reviews
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)
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Last Runaway
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times best-selling author of Girl With a Pearl Earring and At the Edge of the Orchard, Tracy Chevalier makes her first fictional foray into the American past in The Last Runaway, bringing to life the Underground Railroad and illuminating the principles, passions, and realities that fueled this extraordinary freedom movement. Honor Bright, a modest English Quaker, moves to Ohio in 1850 - only to find herself alienated and alone in a strange land.
-
-
Easy listening, no great depth
- By Sarah Kate on 03-23-13
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
At the Edge of the Orchard
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber, Mark Bramhall, Kirby Heyborne, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1838: James and Sadie Goodenough have settled where their wagon got stuck - in the muddy, stagnant swamps of northwest Ohio. They and their five children work relentlessly to tame their patch of land, buying saplings from a local tree man known as John Appleseed so they can cultivate the 50 apple trees required to stake their claim on the property. But the orchard they plant sows the seeds of a long battle. James loves the apples, reminders of an easier life back in Connecticut; while Sadie prefers the applejack they make, an alcoholic refuge from brutal frontier life.
-
-
The performance was superb
- By cheryl retired bookseller on 05-30-17
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
Falling Angels
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Anne Twomey
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An elegant, original, and compelling novel, set against a gaslit backdrop of social and political turbulence in early 20th-century London, Falling Angels draws a picture of family life that exposes the prejudices and flaws of a changing time. Chevalier ( Girl with a Pearl Earring) "shows imaginative skill in two neatly accomplished surprises, and the denouement packs an emotional wallop," says Publishers Weekly.
-
-
Haunting Historical
- By KB on 03-18-03
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
Burning Bright
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Jill Tanner
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A poor family moves to 18th-century London, where the father has been offered a job as a carpenter for a circus. His children befriend a young girl who introduces them to the great city. Their neighbor is none other than the real-life poet, William Blake.
-
-
Excellent
- By Margaret on 04-15-07
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
Remarkable Creatures
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Charlotte Parry
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the windswept, fossil-strewn beaches of the English coast, poor and uneducated Mary Anning learns that she has a unique gift: "The eye" to spot fossils no one else can see. When she uncovers an unusual fossilized skeleton in the cliffs near her home, she sets the religious community on edge, the townspeople to gossip, and the scientific world alight. After enduring bitter cold, thunderstorms, and landslips, her challenges only grow when she falls in love with an impossible man.
-
-
Wonderful Book!
- By Griffin on 02-01-10
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
The Glassmaker
- A Novel
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1486 and Venice is a wealthy, opulent center for trade. Orsola Rosso is the eldest daughter in a family of glassblowers on Murano, the island revered for the craft. As a woman, she is not meant to work with glass—but she has the hands for it, the heart, and a vision. When her father dies, she teaches herself to make glass beads in secret, and her work supports the Rosso family fortunes.
-
-
Fascinating "time-travel" concept
- By Sollidrampen on 07-23-24
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
The Last Runaway
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times best-selling author of Girl With a Pearl Earring and At the Edge of the Orchard, Tracy Chevalier makes her first fictional foray into the American past in The Last Runaway, bringing to life the Underground Railroad and illuminating the principles, passions, and realities that fueled this extraordinary freedom movement. Honor Bright, a modest English Quaker, moves to Ohio in 1850 - only to find herself alienated and alone in a strange land.
-
-
Easy listening, no great depth
- By Sarah Kate on 03-23-13
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
At the Edge of the Orchard
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber, Mark Bramhall, Kirby Heyborne, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1838: James and Sadie Goodenough have settled where their wagon got stuck - in the muddy, stagnant swamps of northwest Ohio. They and their five children work relentlessly to tame their patch of land, buying saplings from a local tree man known as John Appleseed so they can cultivate the 50 apple trees required to stake their claim on the property. But the orchard they plant sows the seeds of a long battle. James loves the apples, reminders of an easier life back in Connecticut; while Sadie prefers the applejack they make, an alcoholic refuge from brutal frontier life.
-
-
The performance was superb
- By cheryl retired bookseller on 05-30-17
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
Falling Angels
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Anne Twomey
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An elegant, original, and compelling novel, set against a gaslit backdrop of social and political turbulence in early 20th-century London, Falling Angels draws a picture of family life that exposes the prejudices and flaws of a changing time. Chevalier ( Girl with a Pearl Earring) "shows imaginative skill in two neatly accomplished surprises, and the denouement packs an emotional wallop," says Publishers Weekly.
-
-
Haunting Historical
- By KB on 03-18-03
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
Burning Bright
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Jill Tanner
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A poor family moves to 18th-century London, where the father has been offered a job as a carpenter for a circus. His children befriend a young girl who introduces them to the great city. Their neighbor is none other than the real-life poet, William Blake.
-
-
Excellent
- By Margaret on 04-15-07
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
Remarkable Creatures
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Charlotte Parry
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the windswept, fossil-strewn beaches of the English coast, poor and uneducated Mary Anning learns that she has a unique gift: "The eye" to spot fossils no one else can see. When she uncovers an unusual fossilized skeleton in the cliffs near her home, she sets the religious community on edge, the townspeople to gossip, and the scientific world alight. After enduring bitter cold, thunderstorms, and landslips, her challenges only grow when she falls in love with an impossible man.
-
-
Wonderful Book!
- By Griffin on 02-01-10
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
The Glassmaker
- A Novel
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1486 and Venice is a wealthy, opulent center for trade. Orsola Rosso is the eldest daughter in a family of glassblowers on Murano, the island revered for the craft. As a woman, she is not meant to work with glass—but she has the hands for it, the heart, and a vision. When her father dies, she teaches herself to make glass beads in secret, and her work supports the Rosso family fortunes.
-
-
Fascinating "time-travel" concept
- By Sollidrampen on 07-23-24
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
Girl with a Pearl Earring
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Hattie Morahan
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
17th Century Holland. When Griet becomes a maid in the household of Johannes Vermeer in the town of Delft, she thinks she knows her role: housework, laundry and the care of his six children. But as she becomes part of his world and his work, their growing intimacy spreads tension and deception in the ordered household and, as the scandal seeps out, into the town beyond.
-
-
Beautiful. Subtle. Refreshing.
- By Amy Walsh Scott on 05-14-24
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
The Virgin Blue
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Janine Carter, Gigi Marceau Clarke
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Ella Turner and Isabelle du Moulin, two women born centuries apart, yet bound by a fateful family legacy. When Ella and her husband move to a small town in France, Ella hopes to brush up on her French, qualify to practice as a midwife, and start a family, but a peculiar dream of the color blue propels her on a quest to uncover her family's French ancestry.
-
-
excellent listening, mediocre story
- By Beth on 10-02-03
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
The Lady and the Unicorn
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld, Terry Donnelly
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bewitching art experts and enthusiasts alike for centuries, the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries hang today in the Cluny Museum in Paris.
-
-
Wonderful Audiobook!
- By LBaum on 07-12-05
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
The Forgotten Seamstress
- By: Liz Trenow
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A shy girl with no family, Maria knows she's lucky to have landed in the sewing room of the royal household. Before World War I casts its shadow, she catches the eye of the Prince of Wales, a glamorous and intense gentleman. But her life takes a far darker turn, and soon all she has left is a fantastical story about her time at Buckingham Palace. Decades later, Caroline Meadows discovers a beautiful quilt in her mother's attic.
-
-
I enjoyed listening to this book
- By SusanKC on 03-26-15
By: Liz Trenow
-
A Single Thread
- The Cobbled Court Series, Book 1
- By: Marie Bostwick
- Narrated by: Pam Ward, Lorna Raver
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marie Bostwick weaves the unforgettable story of four very different women whose paths cross, changing their lives forever. It’s a long way from Fort Worth, Texas, to New Bern, Connecticut, yet it only takes a day in the charming Yankee town to make Evelyn Dixon realize she’s found her new home. The abrupt end of her marriage was Evelyn’s wake-up call to get busy chasing her dream of opening a quilt shop. Finding a storefront is easy enough; starting a new life isn’t....
-
-
Christian oriented fiction
- By Ruth Lambert on 04-07-16
By: Marie Bostwick
-
Reader, I Married Him
- Stories Inspired by Jane Eyre
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Tracy Chevalier - introduction, Laura Kirman
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Part of a remarkable family that produced three acclaimed female writers at a time in 19th-century Britain when few women wrote and fewer were published, Charlotte Brontë has been a great source of inspiration to writers, especially women, ever since. Now, in Reader, I Married Him, 20 of today's most celebrated woman authors have spun original stories using Jane Eyre as a springboard.
-
-
Beautiful and sad and everything
- By Adrianna Prejna on 10-03-16
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
The Widower's Tale
- A Novel
- By: Julia Glass
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a historic farmhouse outside Boston, 70-year-old Percy Darling is settling happily into retirement: Reading novels, watching old movies, and swimming naked in his pond. His routines are disrupted, however, when he is persuaded to let a locally beloved preschool take over his barn. As Percy sees his rural refuge overrun by children, parents, and teachers, he must reexamine the solitary life he has made in the three decades since the sudden death of his wife. No longer can he remain aloof from his community.
-
-
Shedding old skin ...
- By Kelly on 09-23-10
By: Julia Glass
-
The Sewing Machine
- By: Natalie Fergie
- Narrated by: Angus King, Ruth Urquhart
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1911, and Jean is about to join the mass strike at the Singer factory. For her, nothing will be the same again. Decades later, Connie sews coded moments of her life into a notebook, as her mother did before her. More than 100 years after his grandmother's sewing machine was made, Fred unpicks the secrets of four generations, one stitch at a time.
-
-
Historical perspective
- By susan schumacher on 03-06-18
By: Natalie Fergie
-
Violet
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Lisa Shari Böttcher
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, dreißiger Jahre. Die Abende, an denen Violet mit einer Gruppe ungewöhnlicher Frauen wunderschöne Stickereien für die Kathedrale in Winchester anfertigt, sind der Aufbruch in eine neue Welt. Chevaliers neuer Roman ist episch, warmherzig und lebendig - eine Hommage an die weibliche Kunstfertigkeit und ein Buch darüber, wie Schönheit auch ein bescheidenes Leben erfüllen kann.
By: Tracy Chevalier
-
Prayers for Sale
- By: Sandra Dallas
- Narrated by: Maggi-Meg Reed
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hennie Comfort is 86 and has lived in the mountains of Middle Swan, Colorado since before it was Colorado. Nit Spindle is just 17 and newly married. She and her husband have just moved to the high country in search of work. It's 1936 and the depression has ravaged the country and Nit and her husband have suffered greatly. Hennie notices the young woman loitering near the old sign outside of her house that promises "Prayers For Sale".
-
-
Great book
- By Kathy on 05-03-09
By: Sandra Dallas
-
Paper Wife
- A Novel
- By: Laila Ibrahim
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Southern China, 1923. Desperate to secure her future, Mei Ling’s parents arrange a marriage to a widower in California. To enter the country, she must pretend to be her husband’s first wife - a paper wife. On the perilous voyage, Mei Ling takes an orphan girl named Siew under her wing. Dreams of a better life in America give Mei Ling the strength to endure the treacherous journey and detainment on Angel Island. But when she finally reaches San Francisco, she’s met with a surprise. Her husband, Chinn Kai Li, is a houseboy, not the successful merchant he led her to believe.
-
-
Just okay..disappointed
- By Donna Smith McG on 11-03-18
By: Laila Ibrahim
-
The Many Mothers of Ivy Puddingstone
- By: Randy Susan Meyers
- Narrated by: Eleanor Caudill
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Annabel Cooper wants to save the world. Her story begins in 1964 with her journey to Freedom Summer in Mississippi, where the disappearance of her first love ignites a lifelong fight for justice. Years later, she, her husband, and four other couples form a Boston political collective where they live together with their children in a rambling Boston house. As the era's social upheaval intensifies, they move their children to Vermont, where they can remain safe from the world's threats; their parents continue their political work, taking turns traveling to Vermont to care for the children.
Disappointing read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Quiet and Increasingly Engrossing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Just OK
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not her usual story line but ...
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The unhurried pace lended itself to an easygoing and pleasant absorption in my housework. I was surprised to find my kitchen clean in what seemed like no time at all. Great for those chores that don't require any thought, which is most of them
Although church activity is involved, it's not preachy. Love and inner strength, rather than dogma is woven throughout.
This is my 1st from this author, and I plan on buying another from her.
Soul soothing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Wrapped up so neatly, brought a tear to my eye.
Aweome
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Emerging Women’s Independence
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The main character, Violet, seems like an unremarkable woman for the first part of the story. But as she continues to forge ahead with her own life (contrary to all of society's expectations), you sense how remarkable her choices become and how she affects the people around her. STICK WITH IT! It's as if Violet is quietly but nevertheless fiercely staking her claim to her own individual life.
I loved this story and the characters in it.
Slow-going at first but TOTALLY WORTHWHILE!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Quiet, lyrical, powerful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Wonderful narration! Tracy Chevalier is becoming - not a book so far I haven’t loved
Stay with it
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.