© 2024 KRCU Public Radio
90.9 Cape Girardeau | 88.9-HD Ste. Genevieve | 88.7 Poplar Bluff
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
There are one million new books published each year. With so many books and so little time, where do you begin to find your next must-read? There’s the New York Times Bestseller list, the Goodreads app, the Cape Library’s Staff picks shelf and now Martin’s Must-Reads.Every Wednesday at 6:42 and 8:42 a.m., and Sunday at 8:18 a.m., Betty Martin recommends a must read based on her own personal biases for historical fiction, quirky characters and overall well-turned phrases. Her list includes WWII novels, biographies of trailblazers, novels with truly unique individuals and lots more. Reading close to 100 titles a year, Betty has plenty of titles to share.Local support for "Martin's Must Reads" comes from the Cape Girardeau Public Library and the Poplar Bluff Municipal Library.

Martin's Must Reads: 'A Single Thread'

Many years ago, while visiting Coventry Cathedral, my mother was taken by the beautiful needlepoint kneelers that  were in every row.  She asked the guide if they sold the pattern for them and the guide went off to check.  She returned with a packet of four of the original pattern papers and simply gave them to my mother. 

I’m Betty Martin with "Martin’s Must Reads" and that memory is what immediately drew me into Tracy Chevalier’s latest historical novel, A Single Thread. The story begins with Violet Speedwell being shushed by “an officious woman sporting a helmet of gray hair” as she attempted to enter the choir of Winchester Cathedral on a Thursday afternoon.

A private dedication service of newly finished embroidered kneelers and cushions to which outsiders were not invited, was in progress. In an attempt to cover herself, Violet explained she was interested in joining the broderers and after being introduced to a group of women was taught how to embroider.

This story takes place right after WWI, when there was a scarcity of men, and therefore, many lonely women making their way in the world. Violet had lost both a brother and her fiancée to the war. Once her father died she could no longer stand to live with her constantly complaining, grieving, embittered mother so she moved into a boarding house and got a job typing in an insurance company. Through one of her borderer friends she meets and falls in love with a bell ringer, Arthur,  who teaches her about this musical art. The audiobook version is well narrated by Fenella Woolgar.

If you are looking for a quietly satisfying read, with as much emphasis on the writing as on the story, then you must read A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier.

Betty Martin was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a Lutheran pastor and his organist wife. Betty’s love of books was inspired by her father who read to all four children each night.
Related Content