The Violet Hour

(Paperback)

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Description

A blazing story of a woman's infidelity and the furious destruction of the family she loves Cassandra Green has everything - beauty, wealth, a loving husband and a clever daughter. But is it enough Cassandra and her husband Abe are on the deck of their boat on a summer afternoon in the San Francisco Bay. There is a terrible row. Cassandra has been unfaithful. Again. In a fit of rage, Abe throws himself off the boat. So begins The Violet Hour, an unsettling story of a marriage, of rich lives and the American dream, squandered. In this mesmerising novel, Katherine Hill reveals our darkest desires and how we can so easily tear the threads of the perfect life.

Reviews

A rewarding family saga reminiscent of Anne Tyler's novels . . . Wonderfully witty * Washington Post *
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 *
An affecting tale about decent but flawed people * Publishers Weekly *
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 *
A bittersweet tale of breakup and forgiveness * O, The Oprah Magazine *
An unusual retrospective of a family torn apart . . . A bleak and disturbing story but one that offers a glimmer of hope * Kirkus Reviews *
An absorbing read . . . very good on the unspoken nuances of family life and the irrational irritations we often feel for those we love * Daily Mail *
Splices humorous set pieces with gently searing revelations . . . a sophisticated saga, offering easy pleasures with no easy truths * Observer *

Author Bio

Katherine Hill was born in Washington, D.C., in 1982. Her fiction and non-fiction have appeared in many publications including n+1, Believer, Bookforum, Colorado Review and the San Francisco Chronicle. This is her first novel.