Friday, May 26, 2023

Review: The Secret Life of Violet Grant by: Beatriz Williams


Title: The Secret Life of Violet Grant
Author: Beatriz Williams
Series: Schuyler Sisters #1
Publisher: G. P/ Putnam and Sons
Source: Hardcover ( 432 p.) Personal Purchase

Description: 

Passion, redemption, and a battered suitcase full of secrets: the New York Times-bestselling author of A Hundred Summers returns with another engrossing tale.

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 détente. 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.

My Thoughts: 

Sassy mouthed Vivian Schulyer goes to the Post Office to pick up a suitcase sent to her.  The suitcase isn't hers it's her aunt.  She decides the the help of the adorable Dr. Paul a customer at the Post Office as well to find out what she can about Violet Grant.

Violet Grant is an amazing scientist but naive in the world of romance so when her professor seduces her she thinks she's in love.  She's in for a lot more than she thinks and finds comfort in Lionel.  

This book had so much going on with the drama in. both  Vivian and Violet's life.  I loved it and found Vivian refreshing and funny at times.  Typical socialite of the 60's that is until she opens her mouth I love the freshness of just speaking her mind regardless of what others think.

Definitely worth checking out this series I think more a summer read then winter but still fun!

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