The Violet Hour: 'A meditation on mortality and the unreliable consolations of art, love and materialism' Patrick Gale
James Cahill
Feb 2025 · Sceptre · Narrated by Andrew Wincott
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infoThis book will become available on February 27, 2025. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this audiobook
'I really loved The Violet Hour . . . A highbrow whodunnit, and grippingly so, but it's much more than that, building into a meditation on mortality and the unreliable consolations of art, love and materialism'
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
'Beauty, money, power, seduction, betrayal. It's all here'
CHLOË ASHBY, author of Wet Paint
'Pulsing with violence and longing, this is a sumptuous, sinister morality tale'
CLARE POLLARD, author of Delphi
'I'm overwhelmed by the beauty of James Cahill's writing and storytelling'
SANTANU BHATTACHARYA, author of One Small Voice
'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?
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
'Beauty, money, power, seduction, betrayal. It's all here'
CHLOË ASHBY, author of Wet Paint
'Pulsing with violence and longing, this is a sumptuous, sinister morality tale'
CLARE POLLARD, author of Delphi
'I'm overwhelmed by the beauty of James Cahill's writing and storytelling'
SANTANU BHATTACHARYA, author of One Small Voice
'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?
About the author
James Cahill has worked in the art world and academia for fifteen years. His debut novel, Tiepolo Blue, was shortlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award, and his writing has been published in Artforum, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the London Review of Books, the Spectator, the Times Literary Supplement and the Daily Telegraph, among others. James divides his time between London and Los Angeles.
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