A Single Thread

by Tracy Chevalier

Women always studied other women, and did so far more critically than men ever did.

“Dum spiro spero,”

“The Germans are looking for an answer to the economic hole they are in—a hole we have helped to dig with our punitive treaties and plans. We have been very stupid, focused on postwar revenge rather than fixing the problem

so that the same thing doesn’t happen again. Their pride was also wounded by the war, and we have given them no way to regain self-respect. They have been driven to extremism, and we will pay the price.”

Violet understood her sigh. When a woman wants a cup of tea, usually she has to make it for herself, and for the others around her. There is no better taste than a cup of tea someone else has made for you.

How to navigate through life carrying such things without them making

you sad and bitter and judgmental—that was the challenge.