Violet Trace Timeline and Summary

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• Violet is born in 1875-1876 in Vesper County, Virginia. Her mother is Rose Dear and her father is a no-good man who leaves shortly after Violet is born.
• Between her birth and 1888 Violet lives with her four siblings and increasingly nutso mom. In 1888, her grandmother True Belle comes back and takes care of everyone. True Belle is the fairy godmother to Violet's Cinderella.
• At seventeen, Violet goes to Palestine, Virginia, to pick cotton, where she meets Joe Trace, her husband-to-be.
• She basically takes one look at Joe and decides that he's hers and she's going to marry him.
• She does, and they hang out in rural Virginia until 1906. She terminates three pregnancies.
• In 1906 they move to New York. The take the train and have an awesome train trip.
• For the next ten years, everything is awesome. Violet works a bunch of odd jobs before realizing that her calling is as a hairdresser. She isn't licensed, but has a good customer base because she's a Hair Whisperer.
• Around 1915-1916 Violet starts to have serious baby-cravings.
• Things start to disintegrate from there—she starts saying weird things and sitting down in the middle of the street, and eventually stops talking almost altogether.
• In 1925 Joe starts his affair with Dorcas, and Violet is unaware of this until…
• … In January 1926, Joe shoots Dorcas.
• Yikes. Violet goes to the funeral and tries to cut Dorcas's face.
• She's thrown out of the church.
• She goes home and lets all of her birds free.
• She has a boyfriend for a little while, but Joe doesn't seem to care.
• Then she goes on a quest to find out as much about Dorcas as possible, asking Malvonne and Alice all sorts of nosy questions. She even gets a picture of Dorcas, and learns Dorcas's dance moves.
• She becomes friends with Alice.
• She starts to calm down, and gives Alice back the picture of Dorcas.
• In spring of 1926, Felice shows up, and Violet cooks her at least a few meals; she acts in a maternal fashion toward Felice.
• Her marriage to Joe heals. Violet continues cutting hair, and Joe goes back to work.
• They spend a lot of time taking walks, talking to neighbors, and cuddling in bed.