If you ever have the opportunity to travel through time, take my advice and don't choose to go back to 1898 as a housewife in a financially challenged household! Ida Fletcher, mother, wife, wet nurse, worker on the family violet farm,and household drudge is, despite her sad lot in life, a wonderful character. She is intelligent and dedicated to her family and home in the Rhinebeck area of New York state. Ida's husband, Frank, is the black sheep of the Fletcher family, having stolen and lost his share of the family "fortune" as a young man. As a result, he lives with Ida and his children as an employee in a tenant rental on the family violet farm while his two brothers occupy stately homes and shower the best things in life on their families. The deal is that Frank can take his rightful place in their lives when he repays his debt. Ida works as a wet nurse to help make ends meet.
The reader garners little insight into Frank and his motivations as the story is told from Ida's and her daughter Alice's point of views. What we do know is that he is a bitter man obsessed with money to the extent that he would feel no remorse at selling his daughter or burdening his wife with an exhausting schedule of nursing and laboring on the farm, treating them as commodities rather than human beings. Ida, isolated and without resources, finally takes matters into her own hands to save her family.
This book attracted me initially because I have a special place in my heart for violets. My grandmother always had pots of African violets in her picture window and loved to wear purple, so I always associate the flower and the color with her. "A Violet Season" is the story of a resourceful, hard-working woman who loves her family fiercely and is willing to sacrifice all for them. I admire Ida and I think you will, too!
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