Katherine Hill

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The Violet Hour

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A rewarding family saga reminiscent of Anne Tyler's novels . . . Wonderfully witty

Hill handles the intimacy of family ties with care and tenderness . . . Readers who enjoyed Jonathan Franzen's Freedom will relate as Hill's characters similarly and systematically unravel from each other

An affecting tale about decent but flawed people

The Violet Hour succeeds in nearly every measure . . . the story of this family - at once alien and familiar, pitiable and impressive - is rendered with candor and economy

A bittersweet tale of breakup and forgiveness

An unusual retrospective of a family torn apart by divorce and infidelity and so keenly affected by the immediate events in their lives that they are only barely aware of what's transpiring around them . . . A bleak and disturbing story but one that offers a glimmer of hope

An absorbing read . . . very good on the unspoken nuances of family life and the irrational irritations we often feel for those we love

Splices humorous set pieces with gently searing revelations . . . a sophisticated saga, offering easy pleasures with no easy truths

Cassandra Green has everything - beauty, wealth, a loving husband and a clever daughter. But is it enough? 
 
Cassandra and her husband Abe are on the deck of their boat on a summer afternoon in the San Francisco Bay. There is a terrible row. Cassandra has been unfaithful. Again. In a fit of rage, Abe throws himself off the boat. 
 
So begins The Violet Hour, an unsettling story of a marriage, of rich lives and the American dream, squandered. In this mesmerising novel, Katherine Hill reveals our darkest desires and how we can so easily tear the threads of the perfect life.

Katherine Hill's Violet Hour is blazing debut about a woman who just can't stop herself from destroying what she loves most. 
 
For a moment that afternoon, it was only woman and water, the Bay in all its sickening glory squaring itself for a fight. 
 
Life hasn't always been perfect, but for Abe and Cassandra Green, an afternoon on the San Francisco Bay might be as good as it gets. He's a doctor piloting his new sailing boat. She's a sculptor finally getting a bit of recognition. Their beautiful daughter Elizabeth is off to Harvard at the end of the summer. But then there is a terrible row. Cassandra has been unfaithful. In a fit of insanity, Abe throws himself off the boat. 
 
A love story that begins with the end of a marriage, The Violet Hour follows a 21st century American family through past and present, from a lavish New York wedding to the family funeral home in suburban Washington, from a drunken PTA party to a scene of unexpected public violence. 
 
In this deeply resonant novel intimacy is fragile and the search for gratification breeds destruction. Here is a family ripped apart by desire. And here is a family possibly reborn. 
 
Katherine Hill was born in Washington, D.C., in 1982. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in many publications including n+1, The Believer, Bookforum, Colorado Review and the San Francisco Chronicle. This is her first novel.

Katherine Hill was born in Washington, D.C., in 1982. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in many publications including n+1, The Believer, Bookforum, Colorado Review and the San Francisco Chronicle. This is her first novel.

The Violet Hour

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A rewarding family saga reminiscent of Anne Tyler's novels . . . Wonderfully witty

Hill handles the intimacy of family ties with care and tenderness . . . Readers who enjoyed Jonathan Franzen's Freedom will relate as Hill's characters similarly and systematically unravel from each other

An affecting tale about decent but flawed people

The Violet Hour succeeds in nearly every measure . . . the story of this family - at once alien and familiar, pitiable and impressive - is rendered with candor and economy

A bittersweet tale of breakup and forgiveness

An unusual retrospective of a family torn apart by divorce and infidelity and so keenly affected by the immediate events in their lives that they are only barely aware of what's transpiring around them . . . A bleak and disturbing story but one that offers a glimmer of hope

An absorbing read . . . very good on the unspoken nuances of family life and the irrational irritations we often feel for those we love

Splices humorous set pieces with gently searing revelations . . . a sophisticated saga, offering easy pleasures with no easy truths

About Katherine Hill

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