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The Violet Hour

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The Violet Hour

By: James Cahill
Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
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About this listen

 'An enthrallingly intricate novel . . . impressive'
GUARDIAN

'There's something of F. Scott Fitzgerald about the way Cahill writes about the very rich'
DAILY MAIL

'A biting satire of the art world's glamour, pomp and greed . . . lucid and evocative'
DAILY TELEGRAPH

'A highbrow whodunnit, and grippingly so, but it's much more than that'
PATRICK GALE, author of Mother's Boy

'As sensuous and glimmering as it is dark and unsettling . . . a novel to get sucked into'
JENNY MUSTARD, author of Okay Days

'It's brilliant . . . the human drama of it is just pitch perfect . . . Hypnotic'
SEÁN HEWITT, author of All Down Darkness Wide

'Artists are slaves to their vanity. But in the end, in time, they see things as they really are.'

Thomas Haller has achieved the kind of fame that most artists only dream of: shows in London and New York, paintings sold for a fortune. The vision he presents to the world is one of an untouchable genius at the top of his game. It is also a lie.

Who is the real Thomas Haller? His oldest friend and former dealer, Lorna, might once have known - before Thomas traded their early intimacy for international fame. Between his ruthless new dealer and a property mogul obsessed with his work, the appetite for Thomas and his art is all-consuming.

On the eve of his latest show, the luminaries of the art world gather. But the sudden death of a young man has put everyone on edge, and a chain of events begins that will lead Thomas and Lorna back into the past, to confront who they have become.

A story of deception, power play and longing, The Violet Hour exposes the unsettling underbelly of the art world, asking: who is granted admission to a world that only seems to glitter and who is left outside, their faces pressed to the glass?©2025 James Cahill (P)2025 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Psychological Satire Thriller & Suspense Witty
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After a blindingly good first novel, I have been patiently waiting for this to drop for some time. It’s an intriguing premise, but the execution is so much less successful than his debut. The characters feel overblown & unreal. The plotting is on the nose and the world portrayed feels puddle deep in terms of emotional depth. I came very close to giving up several times.

Sadly not a great follow up to his debut

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I guess this book proves how difficult it is to show depths out of such shallow waters.

I guess it shows

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