Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan — Deborah Reed

This novel of a family secret revealed as a famous painter nears the end of her life is a “heart-lifting testament to the power of memory and love and art” (Margaret Renkl, author of Late Migrations).

Ninety-three-year-old Violet Swan has spent a lifetime translating tragedy and hardship into art, becoming famous for her abstract paintings, which evoke tranquility, innocence, and joy. For nearly a century she has lived a peaceful, private life on the coast of Oregon. The “business of Violet” is run by her only child, Francisco, and his wife, Penny. But while death waits on the horizon for Violet, an earthquake sets a series of events in motion and her deeply hidden past begins to resurface. When her beloved grandson returns home with a family secret in tow, Violet is forced to come to terms with the life she left behind so long ago -- a life her family knows nothing about . . .

A generational saga set against the backdrop of twentieth-century America and moving into the present day, Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan is the story of a girl who escaped rural Georgia at fourteen during World War II, crossing the country alone and broke. It is the story of how that girl met the man who would become her devoted husband, how she became a celebrated artist, and above all, how her life, inspired by nothing more than the way she imagined it to be, would turn out to be her greatest masterpiece.

“Reed finely balances the cavalcade of revelations with a poised, multilayered portrait of a complex life.” -- Booklist 

“Prepare to be spellbound.” -- Rene Denfeld, author of TheChild Finder