James Cahill’s second novel delves into the seemingly glamorous art world that its author inhabits. Like any good story, The Violet Hour exposes an often-­misunderstood microcosm of society. Here is a world of intellectual surety in which novelty takes precedence over beauty in any form. 

We are introduced to three complicated figures on the contemporary art scene. Lorna Bedford is the curator of a fashionable New York gallery who is losing some of her youthful idealism about the role of art in society. She starts to think back on her life, particularly on her personal and professional entanglement with Thomas Haller, a celebrated, cagey painter whose recent exhibition has created renewed interest in his work. Leo Goffman is a wealthy, elderly and cantankerous collector who, through force of will, has brought the pair back into contact. A young man dies in improbable circumstances and each feels implicated in the event. 

The narrative is non-linear, skipping between the days leading up to and following the reunion, and offers intense – at times unfiltered – insights into the thought processes and feelings of the three characters. The reader is spurred on by the promise that the main mysteries – the cause