Pale Morning Light With Violet Swan: A Novel of a Life in Art

Deborah Reed

Oct 2020 · HarperCollins

About this ebook

This novel of a family secret revealed as a famous painter nears the end of her life is a “heart-lifting testament to the power of memory and love and art” (Margaret Renkl, author of Late Migrations).

Ninety-three-year-old Violet Swan has spent a lifetime translating tragedy and hardship into art, becoming famous for her abstract paintings, which evoke tranquility, innocence, and joy. For nearly a century she has lived a peaceful, private life on the coast of Oregon. The “business of Violet” is run by her only child, Francisco, and his wife, Penny. But while death waits on the horizon for Violet, an earthquake sets a series of events in motion and her deeply hidden past begins to resurface. When her beloved grandson returns home with a family secret in tow, Violet is forced to come to terms with the life she left behind so long ago—a life her family knows nothing about . . .

A generational saga set against the backdrop of twentieth-century America and moving into the present day, Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan is the story of a girl who escaped rural Georgia at fourteen during World War II, crossing the country alone and broke. It is the story of how that girl met the man who would become her devoted husband, how she became a celebrated artist, and above all, how her life, inspired by nothing more than the way she imagined it to be, would turn out to be her greatest masterpiece.

“Reed finely balances the cavalcade of revelations with a poised, multilayered portrait of a complex life.” —Booklist

“Prepare to be spellbound.” —Rene Denfeld, author of TheChild Finder

Ratings and reviews

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for writing an impartial review. Scheduled publication - October 6, 2020. The first thing I have to acknowledge is that I wanted to read this book because I recently began taking art lessons and thought a novel about an artist would coincide nicely with my budding interest. Unfortunately, despite this being a moderately short book (288 pages), it took me more than two weeks to finish it. That's because whenever I wanted to sit down and read, I just never felt like picking this one up. I simply didn't find the story very compelling. At its center is Violet Swan -- a successful and still-working artist, an older widow, but in declining health. She lives on the West Coast near the ocean, on the second floor of a home with her 65 year old son, Frank, and daughter-in-law (Penny) below. Her closest relationship is with her grown grandson, Daniel, a filmmaker living in Los Angeles. Theirs is a family full of tension. Frank and Penny's relationship is strained. Violet's relationship with Frank is awkward. The shadow of Violet's much-loved, late husband hangs over everyone. And Violet has her own troubled past that is only SLOWLY revealed as you progress through the book. There are various types of family dysfunction, some mental illness, and plenty of personal secrets long buried. What begins to bring all of them to light is Daniel's desire to make a documentary about his famous grandmother -- something Violet has, up until now, refused to do. A lot of promise here, right? But for me, it never quite came together. Aside from assorted references to obscure names of colors, it really isn't very much about an artist's life. The main characters are distinct and fully drawn and do develop and grow as the family secrets are exposed. But I found I didn't really care much about any of them. So, I don't feel like I can strongly recommend this book, though if you look at other reviews, there are many others who enjoyed the book more than I did.

I received a free electronic ARC of this novel from Netgalley, Deborah Reed, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - Mariner Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am happy to recommend Deborah Reed to friends and family. She writes a tight tale with interesting and varied protagonists and her descriptive passages take you there. Violet Swan is a very self-contained, secretive 93-year-old widow, a successful artist with a very small family, close physically but with relationships beginning to fray at the seams. Violet, who is from Georgia, has been since she was about 18 a resident of the small coastal Oregon town of Nestucca Beach. Everyone misses her husband Richard, every day of the twenty years he's been gone. Her son Frank and his wife Penny live downstairs in Violet's home, while she spends most of her time upstairs in her studio and apartment. Frank has taken Richard's place is promoting and representing Violet's much-in-demand work. Grandson Daniel has been for too long making his way up the film production ladder in Los Angeles. Penny is visibly unhappy and stressed out, seriously considering returning to the realtor workforce she belonged to before Daniel was born, and perhaps just moving on. Frank is always checking the world news, always angry, often sad. Violet is failing physically and second-guessing her lifelong habit of keeping all of her secrets to herself - some of the things that formed her life and personality were not even known by her beloved Richard. And everything seems to come to a head with the earthquake. Frank is injured when a spice shelf falls during the quake and cuts his head and has to have several stitches. Daniel is compelled to make the often postponed trip home to check on every one and share the surprise he has been hinting at for some time and to again encourage Violet to allow him to do a film of her life story while there is still time. Only Violet knows just how limited that time really is. And Daniel's surprise is a doozie - Danielle is three years old, speaking French but learning English quickly, a bright, sparkling child with the face of her Grandfather Richard. Her mother, a one-night-stand while Daniel was in France, is currently in jail and has given Richard full uncontested custody of Dani. And there is something screwy with the DNA results Daniel received when proving his paternity of Dani. That child is just the catalyst needed to bring this family back around to the focus of being a family. Will it be enough to convince Violet to share her life story with her family and fans?

About the author

DEBORAH REED is the author of the novels Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan, The Days When Birds Come Back,Olivay,Things We Set on Fire, and Carry Yourself Back to Me. She has written two thrillers under the pen name Audrey Braun. She lives on the coast of Oregon and is the owner of Cloud and Leaf, an independent bookstore in Manzanita, Oregon.