The Secret Life of Violet Grant

Vivian Schuyler has rejected her family's mansion on Fifth Avenue for a squalid apartment in Greenwich Village and the life of a party girl to be a writer. She talked her way into a gofer job at a prestigious magazine (owned by her best friend's father) and now plans to break into the publishing world of 1964 with irrepressible verve and self-confidence. She will investigate and write the story of her great-aunt Violet, who disappeared in 1914 Germany, after murdering her husband. The book alternates between Vivian and Violet, and listeners learn that Violet was just as determined as Vivian to live her own life but not as well prepared to take on the world. While Vivian sparkles, Violet pushes ahead resolutely. Kathleen McInerney suitably portrays Vivian with buoyancy and Violet with a slower, more hesitating diction, bringing all doubt, fear, and determination into their voices and making listeners care about them.