V for Violet

Description

Battersea, 1961. London is just beginning to enter the swinging sixties. The world is changing - but not for sixteen-yearold Violet. She was born at the exact moment Winston Churchill announced Victory in Europe - an auspicious start, but now she's just stuck in her family's fish and chip shop dreaming of greatness. And it doesn't look like fame and fortune are going to come calling anytime soon. Then she meets Beau. Beau's a Rocker - a motorcycle boy who arrives in an explosion of passion and rebellion. He blows up Violet's grey little life, and she can't believe her luck. But things don't go her way for long. Joseph, her long-lost brother, comes home. Then young girls start going missing, and turning up murdered. And then Violet's best friend disappears too. Suddenly life is horrifyingly much more interesting. Violet can't believe its coincidence that Joseph turns up just as girls start getting murdered. He's weird, and she feels sure he's hiding something. He's got a secret, and Violet's got a dreadful feeling it might be the worst kind of secret of all...

Alison grew up in Liverpool, and now lives in a medieval house in Somerset with her three children, her husband - a carpenter - an extremely naughty Jack Russell and a ghost cat. She has co-authored a number of non-fiction titles on subjects as diverse as growing old, mad monarchs, how to boil a flamingo, the history of America and the biography of a nineteenth-century baby killer. She has worked as a fashion designer, a production controller, a painter and decorator, a barmaid, and now owns and runs a travelling vintage tea room. Alison has also published three previous YA books about young Victorian women with Hot Key Books - The Quietness, The Beloved and The Madness. Follow Alison at www.alisonrattle.com or on Twitter: @alisonrattle

This book hooks you in -- Fiona Sharp * www.waterstones.com * Very satisfying story and just that bit different from many others * Bookwitch Book Blog * Dishing up a story rich in mystery, heartbreak, family drama, friendship crises, more mystery and a cast of characters that will hold your attention! Alison Rattle has given me my favourite mystery book of the year so far! . . . If you feel the need for a genuinely engaging thriller that will keep you guessing then V for Violet is the book for you! * teenlibrarian.co.uk * V for Violet by Alison Rattle gives the reader options; is V for victory? Vanished? Vengeance or Violet? You will find out if you delve into this coming of age story set in 1960s London and a featuring a tide of change, not all of which is welcome... * Armadillo Magazine * V For Violet was a really enjoyable read and I'd definitely like to read more from Alison Rattle. * Sarah's Chapter Book Blog * This is an engrossing evocation of a particular period with an absorbing plot. I really cared about the characters (...) An evocative and generous story * Historical Novel Society Journal * I did enjoy the sixties vibe, and the complete acceptance of a certain character's sexuality * Delicate Eternity *