The Violet Hour
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Sailing his new boat on the San Francisco Bay, rheumatologist Abe Green has never been happier. His wife Cassandra is a sculptor, finally gaining modest attention for her art. Their beautiful daughter Elizabeth is heading to Harvard in the fall. It's an almost perfect American life—until the family plunges into a terrible fight. In a fit of fury, Abe throws himself off the boat.
The Violet Hour radiates from this irrevocable moment, from the Maryland funeral home of Cassandra's childhood, to the San Francisco health clinic where Abe and Cassandra first meet, to a lavish wedding in Elizabeth's twenty-something Manhattan. At once lyrical, bruising, and wickedly funny, here is a novel about our best and worst selves, the delusions of privilege, and the strange surprises of love and time.
The Violet Hour radiates from this irrevocable moment, from the Maryland funeral home of Cassandra's childhood, to the San Francisco health clinic where Abe and Cassandra first meet, to a lavish wedding in Elizabeth's twenty-something Manhattan. At once lyrical, bruising, and wickedly funny, here is a novel about our best and worst selves, the delusions of privilege, and the strange surprises of love and time.
REVIEWS AND PRAISE
"A rewarding family saga reminiscent of Anne Tyler’s novels circa Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant . . . wonderfully witty and assured."
Washington Post Book World "A gripping debut." People "The Violet Hour splices humorous set pieces with gently searing revelations . . . a sophisticated saga, offering easy pleasures with no easy truths." The Observer (UK) "Hill is very good on the unspoken nuances of family life, the irrational irritations we often feel for those we love. It’s an absorbing read . . . one to watch." The Daily Mail (UK) "Hill is particularly capable as a manufacturer of taut, precise imagery, which she most effectively unleashes as the book’s first plot point takes its turn . . . The Violet Hour is filled with controlled and yet expansive prose." Philadelphia Inquirer "A bittersweet tale of breakup and forgiveness." O, The Oprah Magazine "The Violet Hour succeeds in nearly every measure . . . the story of this family—at once alien and familiar, pitiable and impressive—is rendered with candor and economy." Colorado Review "Don’t look for heroes or a typical love story in The Violet Hour. Hill uses sophisticated prose to convey the tone and emotions of a 20-year marriage. The rise and fall of Abe and Cassandra is complicated and cruel, yet with her evocative writing, Hill leaves room for redemption. Fans of authors like Sue Miller and Elizabeth Strout should take notice." BookPage "Hill handles the intimacy of family ties with care and tenderness . . . Readers who enjoyed Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom will relate as Hill’s characters similarly and systematically unravel from each other." Booklist "Intimate and utterly beguiling . . . Deftly plotted, richly characterized, and brilliantly placed, The Violet Hour is a perfect novel for fans of Ghana Must Go." Bookmagnet "Every now and then you come across a book that forces you to look at yourself and teaches you something about yourself and the world around you that you didn’t know or had failed to acknowledge. . . . The Violet Hour certainly falls into that category. . . . A thoroughly enjoyable read." Novelicious (UK) "This is an affecting tale about decent but flawed people—the volatile Cassandra, blazing with helplessness and grief; literal Abe, good at doctoring but bad at messes, and Elizabeth, desperate to find a way to help her parents remember their strengths as they each seek their own violet hours of self-knowledge and forgiveness." Publishers Weekly "An unusual retrospective of a family torn apart by divorce and infidelity and so keenly affected by the immediate events in their lives that they are only barely aware of what’s transpiring around them . . . A bleak and disturbing story but one that offers a glimmer of hope." Kirkus Reviews "A rich first novel . . . [Hill has] an uncanny touch for the idiosyncrasies of families." Shelf Awareness “Katherine Hill’s The Violet Hour reminds us that in every family mistakes are made—and redemption is possible. A wise, engrossing novel of familial love, betrayal, and forgiveness.” Kate Walbert, author of A Short History of Women "Like Sue Miller and Alice Hoffman, Katherine Hill limns the commonplace dreams and sorrows of the restless middle class. Ranging from post-grad San Francisco in the '70s to post-9/11 Manhattan, The Violet Hour is an old-fashioned family romance." Stewart O'Nan, author of Last Night at the Lobster and Emily, Alone "Katherine Hill's The Violet Hour is a brilliant meditation on the supreme mystery of marriage, haunted family legacies, and the fragility of happiness, all rendered in prose as kinetic and lyric as the sea. A debut that reads more like a master work, The Violet Hour is a revelatory and unforgettable novel." Laura van den Berg, author of The Isle of Youth "The lush imagery in this novel magically disguises and obscures the everyday, and soon all of life begins to look unfamiliar in a way that allows the very existence of these characters to appear as ridiculous, thrilling, and painful as it arguably should: the rug is lifted, everything that gets swept beneath notice in the day to day becomes exposed." Alissa Nutting, author of Tampa “The Violet Hour is an altogether entrancing novel. Katherine Hill’s fresh, intelligent voice and extraordinary skill take an age-old theme—three generations of an unhappy family—and make it original, poignant and luminous. I was sorry when their story ended!” Lynne Sharon Schwartz, author of Disturbances in the Field and Two-Part Inventions "Katherine Hill’s intensely real characters—members of a family who live in a funeral home—have texture and thickness, and are as aware of their past as of the present moment. Lovable even when they are foolish, they make risky choices while looking straight at hard truths." Alice Mattison, author of When We Argued All Night |