Many Thanks to Net Galley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and the author for a chance to review this book.

The title of the book has an enchanted feeling. It made me think of dawn and the first light that creeps thru the windows and the feeling of tranquility or serenity on a good day. Pale Morning Light of Violet Swan transports a reader to that realm of absolute gratification, the writing so unhurried that it leaves us with contentment and bliss.

We meet Violet when she is 93 yrs. old, knowing that her days are numbered and along with Violet we begin a journey to her fire-eaten scarred hands and legs. Her life has always been about art and not about who she is. Extremely private, there are parts of her life that even her son is unaware of. Her grandson Daniel’s request for a documentary on her mysterious life has so far been unsuccessful but an earthquake opens up the fissures in her heart and the locks have been opened and the memories that Violet has kept hidden for decades refuse to be tied up again.

The story is in fact a celebration of life lived to the fullest in spite of the terrible losses and trauma that Violet has suffered. Her son Frank and his wife Penny are also at the crossroads of their life, years together creating such deep resentments that it has boiled over. Daniel returns to this place he has always been happy growing up with a life-altering secret that breathes a new beginning for everyone involved.

I loved Deborah Reed’s exploration of relationships especially motherhood and its varied forms thru Violet and Penny. The use of art and colors and the beauty of the nature by the author adds a bewitching quality to the whole story that some parts of it left me spell-bound. Another first-time author for me, I am so thrilled to have read and for the smile that this book left me with, I am rating it 5stars.

I loved this book.
Violet is a painter, I would love to see her work. I would like to meet Violets family, see Violets studio.
This book is filled with the colors, sounds and smells of every day life. It describes the most amazing vivid colors and textures of ordinary things and includes the words that express how people viewing Violet’s painting.
Violet was a loved young girl until the fire. She ran away, Being a private person, She did not tell anyone of the trip from Georgia to Oregon until her grandson created a documentary about her life, revealing her secrets

I could have stayed forever in Violet’s world, and wish I could have. I’d love to see a sequel where Daniel finds out more about Violet’s life, and more about raising Dani. This was an incredible book, one I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to read and review for NetGalley.

Rating? 3 stars
Recommend? I think this book would be good for someone who could identify more with the characters; I may have been too young to appreciate the breadth of the issues that were presented.

This book follows 93-year-old Violet Swan, a successful but famously private artist who is hiding her diagnosis of lung cancer from her family. The book goes back and forth between Violet's traumatic childhood and the dramas unfolding in present time between her son, his wife, and Violet's 35-year-old grandson.

I almost DNFed this book around 25%. The beginning of the book was slow, with a lot of descriptive language that lost my attention. It wasn't until about 35% in, when characters other than Violet began narrating, that I started to get invested in the story line and the character development. Overall, I thought this was a really interesting that just didn't reach its full potential. I wanted fuller descriptions of the history, and even deeper character development.

Also, the book isn't really about art. I think that's fine, but I don't think the "A Novel of a Life in Art" was a necessary addition to the title.

Thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt-Mariner books for this ARC in return for my honest review.
This book was a lovely character study of fictional artist, Violet Swan. There was something moving about the author's way with words that drew me into this quiet, yet eventful book. It is rich with themes of forgiveness and acceptance interwoven throughout the narrative
We join Violet Swann at 93 years old near the end of her famous life where she takes a look back at her family, her abstract paintings and some long-buried secrets when (with a befitting metaphor), an earthquake sets a series of events in motion. Her previously quiet life is turned sideways as secrets of the past must be faced and her present is irrevocably changed.
We learn of her through joys and heartaches, spanning from the age of 14 to present, where she turns events, good and bad, into the art that will make her a revered figure. But I must say that, although this is titled to be about Violet's life in art, the art is secondary to the focus on her difficult early life and her present family: her beloved recently deceased husband, her son, daughter-in-law and grandson.
All in all, it was a pleasant and absorbing read in these difficult times...and we need books like this to take our minds from the news.

I received a free electronic ARC of this novel from Netgalley, Deborah Reed, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - Mariner Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am happy to recommend Deborah Reed to friends and family. She writes a tight tale with interesting and varied protagonists and her descriptive passages take you there.

Violet Swan is a very self-contained, secretive 93-year-old widow, a successful artist with a very small family, close physically but with relationships beginning to fray at the seams. Violet, who is from Georgia, has been since she was about 18 a resident of the small coastal Oregon town of Nestucca Beach. Everyone misses her husband Richard, every day of the twenty years he's been gone. Her son Frank and his wife Penny live downstairs in Violet's home, while she spends most of her time upstairs in her studio and apartment. Frank has taken Richard's place is promoting and representing Violet's much-in-demand work. Grandson Daniel has been for too long making his way up the film production ladder in Los Angeles. Penny is visibly unhappy and stressed out, seriously considering returning to the realtor workforce she belonged to before Daniel was born, and perhaps just moving on. Frank is always checking the world news, always angry, often sad. Violet is failing physically and second-guessing her lifelong habit of keeping all of her secrets to herself - some of the things that formed her life and personality were not even known by her beloved Richard. And everything seems to come to a head with the earthquake.

Frank is injured when a spice shelf falls during the quake and cuts his head and has to have several stitches. Daniel is compelled to make the often postponed trip home to check on every one and share the surprise he has been hinting at for some time and to again encourage Violet to allow him to do a film of her life story while there is still time. Only Violet knows just how limited that time really is. And Daniel's surprise is a doozie - Danielle is three years old, speaking French but learning English quickly, a bright, sparkling child with the face of her Grandfather Richard. Her mother, a one-night-stand while Daniel was in France, is currently in jail and has given Richard full uncontested custody of Dani. And there is something screwy with the DNA results Daniel received when proving his paternity of Dani. That child is just the catalyst needed to bring this family back around to the focus of being a family. Will it be enough to convince Violet to share her life story with her family and fans?

Sorting Out a Long Life
This is a very cerebral story that wraps around a small family. The grandmother is 92 years old and at the end of life. Her son and his wife live in the same house but are a bickering couple. Their son is 35 years old and has come home for a visit. The story wraps around in the minds of each of them. It is a fairly dark tale. I did not find it enjoyable at all until the last 100 pages. At that point, it all came together, made sense and I smiled. But, it was a long road to get there. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

I wish to thank Net Galley and the Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Mariner Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and review an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a well written fiction about a very successful artist and her life. It is done in a series of flashbacks to her early years and then to her later years. As you journey through her life and meet her family members and friends you understand her choices and wish you could have known such a person.

I found the book perfect to enjoy in smaller segments rather than a quick read so you could soak in the full story. Her life begins with tragedy in Georgia and ends up on the coast of Oregon. You feel as though are hopping the trains with her as she travels and picturing all the characters that she meets on her journey. As her family grows you meet her grandson. You cheer for him as he realizes she has a story to tell that no one has heard as she has always been very private about her life. He encourages her to allow him to do a video of her life to share with everyone. It story deals with videos and DNA and very modern issues as well as hard times prior to World War II. It is fiction but so believable that you will swear there is someone who lived this life. I highly recommend it.

I was interested in the book because it seemed different from others about artists. It made me tear up a couple of times due to some of its contents (I think some books need trigger warnings for certain situations) but overall, I really enjoyed this book. I even enjoyed the multi-narrative voices within it which Faulkner almost ruined for me. I loved the characters and ended up wanting to learn more when it was done. A beautiful and heart wrenching book!

I am very sorry but the number of commas in one sentence, every sentence, drove me crazy. I couldn't really get past the first couple of pages. If Ms Reed would take another critical look at the number of commas used and perhaps split up sentences so that they are not a strong of run-on sentences, I think it would improve the book. At least, the first two pages. :-( I hope this is private to Ms. Reed only because I don't like writing these kinds of reviews.

Is the world asking too much of us?

Or are we trying to be all things to all people at all times?

Deborah Reed visits the pressing reality of what it means to be human. Flawed, prone to mistakes and misjudgments, misguided and existing in self-imposed stone, humans seem like they were never meant for this world. And nothing speaks more poignantly than the reflective voice of a ninety-three year old woman who has experienced life from all angles and all times.

Violet Swan sits in the upstairs art studio in a house that she's lived in most of her adult life. The Oregon coast has given her the impetus for the rise and fall of her abstract creations that have gained her notoriety in the art world throughout the years. But being renowned and being accepted didn't always come easy. Reed will take us back to Violet's early beginnings in Rockwood, Georgia and a house fire that will change her life and force her to take to the back roads at the tender age of fourteen. Violet's early years are the most fascinating in Pale Morning Light. Reed's talent is evident in the unveiling of her main character who is the draw and the vortex of swirling and unstable events in Pale Morning Light.

Fast forward to the present and we meet the members of Violet's family who seem to stand on shifting sand. Violet, true to her nature, passes no judgment on her son Frank and his wife Penny's daily altercations downstairs. Soon her beloved grandson, Daniel, arrives with a bruised soul and a life-changing secret. Pale Morning Light is deeply character driven. Perhaps we will see a reflection in these waters of long-kept secrets, the draw of being territorial, the refusal to see life from the other side of the road. I think that the best way to experience this novel is just to allow Deborah Reed to set you adrift in these waters of humanity. Rough, at times, but eventually calm and smooth as glass when giving in to release.

I received a copy of this novel through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanksto Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and to Deborah Reed for the opportunity.

This is a lovely, mesmerizing book. Deborah Reed describes both the characters and the Oregon coast with such beauty and skill that I felt like I was living in the book. Violet Swan is a renowned artist, but at 93 she knows her days are numbered. Her past drifts through her mind so vividly that she feels she is reliving them. And she has led a fascinating life, much of which is unknown to the rest of her family. But as she watches her son and grandson bump up against personal problems and mistakes, she thinks that perhaps she should share more of her story. PALE MORNING WITH VIOLET SWAN is wonderful story of perseverance, talent and family. I plan to buy many copies as gifts for my favorite readers.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley to facilitate my review.

Violet Swan is 93 and terminally ill. She is a famous artist and hoped to finish one last painting. But there are things she hasn't told her family yet, including the fact that she is dying.

Since she's 93. her mind wanders back in time, to memories both pleasant, and those that are terrifying and heartbreaking. But Violet is a strong person and continues moving towards her goal. All the loose ends of her life are revealed when the documentary of her life produced by her grandson is played for the family - but it was during her last days and the filing of the documentary that the healing began.

I loved the story and the writing - it had an ethereal quality to it, which to me might be how the mind of a 93 year old might work. Highly recommend this book!

So pleasantly surprised with this novel! Every family is complicated and this delve into the Swan family through the generations was a bit like uncovering a mystery but also building your own relationship with each character. It really was a pretty simple story but the author's character descriptions and commentary on relationships/interaction with the world and nature were beautiful. Her style of writing really appealed to me and made every character so relatable, especially through the eyes of a character making peace with end of life. "Violet's emotions were tender as ever, humming close to the surface, her love for this world often seen through a swift convulsion of tears." Not an average novel and really just so beautiful, both in prose and thoughts on life.

An enjoyable read. This novel explores the long life of a successful artist, who had some very difficult experiences, especially as a young girl/teen, and yet somehow managed to have a long, happy marriage in an idyllic spot on the Oregon coast. The writer bounces back and forth between the present day/recent past in the last months of Violet Swan’s life, and her memories. The other family members were a bit disappointing at first, but eventually their backstory was revealed and they became more three-dimensional.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an advance readers copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

A really fun and interesting read. I had an enjoyable time reading this and it held my attention the entire way through that I finished it within the day!

This story touches on the art of Violet Swan a bit, but mainly it's about the characters and their family dynamics. Violet at 93 is in failing health, but living in her loft studio her main focus is to finish more paintings before the end comes. Below her live her son Francisco and his wife Penny. When their son comes home to Oregon for a visit, he has a couple surprises for them, one being his intention to film a documentary of Violet's long, mysterious, fascinating life. Francisco has only bits of memories from his childhood, which will be clarified once the filming begins, and some are rather shocking.

Violet has been having flashbacks of her life as well, which are scattered throughout her normal activities, just like they would be in our thoughts as we go about our days. Presented in this way, it felt disjointed at first but soon I was caught up in her life as it is slowly, meticulously revealed.

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for my advanced copy. Recommended to those who enjoy a slow burn of a character study.

Honestly, I really struggled with the writing style of this book. It was flowery and overly descriptive to the point of confusion. I often had to read passages several times to understand what was being said. Some people may love the writing style, but I would not recommend this book to a busy working mom like me, who wants to read for pleasure at the end of the day.

I love novels about art and artists but this one just did not hold my attention. I didn't finish it so will not be sharing a review on Goodreads.

And enjoyable story with richly developed characters, this novel seems to drag in places and I didn’t really enjoy the back-and-forth of the timing. I found it difficult to get into but once in, I was able to read it fully

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.