The Secret Life of Violet Grant

The Secret Life of Violet Grant
Beatriz Williams

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Wicked City: a story of love and intrigue that travels from Kennedy-era Manhattan to World War I Europe…Fresh from college, irrepressible Vivian Schuyler defies her wealthy Fifth Avenue family to work at cut-throat Metropolitan magazine. But this is 1964, and the editor dismisses her…until a parcel lands on Vivian’s Greenwich Village doorstep that starts a journey into the life of an aunt she never knew, who might give her just the story she’s been waiting for.In 1912, Violet Schuyler Grant moved to Europe to study physics, and made a disastrous marriage to a philandering fellow scientist. As the continent edges closer to the brink of war, a charismatic British army captain enters her life, drawing her into an audacious gamble that could lead to happiness…or disaster.Fifty years later, Violet’s ultimate fate remains shrouded in mystery. But the more obsessively Vivian investigates her disappearing aunt, the more she realizes all they have in common – and that Violet’s secret life is about to collide with hers.

Copyright (#ulink_01d719a7-3de7-50b1-8572-c139bcef96b5)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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London, SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published by Putnam, Penguin USA 2014

First published in the UK by HarperCollinsPublishers 2017

Copyright © Beatriz Williams 2014

Cover design by TBC © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2017

Cover photographs © TBC

Beatriz Williams asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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Source ISBN: 9780399162176

Ebook Edition © December 2017 ISBN: 9780008134983

Version: 2017-08-18

Dedication (#ude9b6448-d0c0-5180-9aa6-bf1e10c135c8)

To my beautiful grandmother,

Sarena Merle Baker

1924–2013

Contents

Cover (#u30b5104b-bb2b-564a-9b13-6f6610189b7b)

Title Page (#uee8e8673-06b6-5b3b-914c-a9e6160d79b3)

Copyright (#u421a47dc-0d3e-56aa-90dc-5597a386dff9)

Dedication

Prologue (#u7f5c650e-3966-55ff-9856-e7d017bbbe5f)

Part One (#u53dfec59-19c2-54c9-b7c6-8447f27c3991)

Vivian, 1964: New York City (#u8f86a5c1-0a42-54b7-ba0a-714518c754e5)

Violet, 1914: Berlin (#u30664f94-9126-5265-9e67-05d4cf4fb8d4)

Vivian (#ua00083e4-2793-587f-a021-f7bde82a4c75)

Violet (#u06830ec3-1ab9-5bcf-bc77-c7a548d2f8aa)

Vivian (#u96e18cc8-b8bc-5079-8796-8ca84486584e)

Violet (#ua0e9ead9-445b-5726-9c76-cb7918e4cb3a)

Vivian (#udd7ea6f5-b173-59da-8701-c18c4420a7fc)

Violet (#ufcd90a3f-d660-5b66-a8b7-59c8d1e4ca6c)

Vivian (#u7a46251d-1d4e-562e-aa05-6f59d248acf7)

Violet (#ue0ab42b9-bc25-5aba-9307-06fc176b444b)

Vivian (#u6994a608-f004-5782-9b57-c382f7c5ab08)

Violet (#litres_trial_promo)

Vivian (#litres_trial_promo)

Violet (#litres_trial_promo)

Vivian (#litres_trial_promo)

Violet (#litres_trial_promo)

Vivian (#litres_trial_promo)

Interlude: Violet, 1912 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Vivian (#litres_trial_promo)