Those Faraday Girls – Monica McInerney

Juliet was fifteen, Clementine just eight, and their three sisters Miranda, Eliza and Sadie strung like beads between them, when Tessa died unexpectedly from a post-operative complication. Her widower, Leo, did everything in his power to keep her memory alive and his family together – eight years on everything seemed fine, until Clementine announced first that she was pregnant and second that she had no intention of marrying the father. Maggie would instead be raised at home, with input from her aunts and her adoring grandpa, Tadpole.
Twenty-seven years later Maggie has moved from London, her post-Australia base, to New York. A combination of distressing events has forced a reevaluation of her life, and though she's concentrating on her career and how she could have managed to be living a life so incompatible with her beliefs, she also explores her history, which is inevitably entangled with that of her very close family, and discovers secrets including why her aunt Sadie vanished when Maggie was only six.
Those Faraday Girls unfolds more chronologically than my synopsis; though there are occasional flashbacks, for the most part it runs from the morning in 1979 when Clementine breaks the news to her disbelieving father through to the present day (or at least the present day of its 2007 publication), with almost half the novel taking place between 1979 and 1985, before taking a leap to the twenty-first century.
The themes of the book, in common with McInerney's other works, cluster around family - illustrated by the epigraph

No family can hang out the sign: 'Nothing the matter here' -Chinese proverb

They include: interconnectedness, love, forgiveness, dishonesty, brutal truths, unacknowledged hurts, deception, and the mistaken belief that we know our relatives better than we do. We're most often unkindest to those we're closest to, and this truism is clearly illustrated by McInerney, whose sisters are carelessly oblivious to each others' pain.

Anyone who decided there weren't favourites between sisters didn't have sisters, Miranda decided. Of course there were. The truth of it was, though, that the favourites changed constantly, the alliances shifting back and forth in some unspoken parody of a folk dance, two of them close for a time until a change in tempo forced them to break up and turn to different partners.

Trapped in roles both self- and family-created, another theme is transformation as a result of examining how true and applicable these constructs are. While Maggie is the focus in this regard, long-absent Sadie has recreated herself in a way unimaginable had she remained part of her family, but at a cost.
The sad and powerful legacy of sibling rivalry is echoed gnererationally - while the ostensibly focus of this is the repositioning of the sisters, the subtle driving of a lot of the narrative arc is Leo's relationship with his brother Bill. Tied with that is the invisibility of Sadie in her family, a person none of her siblings is rivals with.
The distortion, manipulation and fracture of truth runs through the novel - Leo lies to his daughters about Tessa, in large part out of fear he'll otherwise discover a truth to painful to contemplate; Sadie lies about her past, backing herself into a corner she can't possibly avoid; Miranda and Eliza lie to their families about their relationships and their secret lives; and Juliet lies by omission to her husband, wrapping herself ever more heavily in pain in the process.
Motherhood is heavily present throughout the text, both in its presence and in its absence - though long dead, Tessa is as influential a character as any of the others, while the inability to be a mother (through infertility or circumstance) is a burden and a blessing depending on the character.
All of this sounds as though the novel must be depressing and wearisomely heavy, but Those Faraday Girls is triumphant, accessible, and deeply satisfying. McInerney manages to avoid any number of cliches, and though the ending is somewhat bitter-sweet, it's all the more satisfying for the triumph of reality over neatly bowed plot ribbons. I've enjoyed all of McInerney's novels (and reviewed two thus far); perhaps it's because it's still fresh in my mind, or perhaps because it's more recent and therefore more accomplished, I think Those Faraday Girls is my favourite. McInerney does a beautiful job of recreating the complexity of relationships, particularly those of larger families.
Though in many ways very different from the Faraday's, some of my friends have expressed bewilderment at the closeness of my siblings and parents in my life, and mine in theirs, while I'm surprised by their ability to maintain distance. I think it's echoes of this in the lovingly claustrophobic, inextricably intertwined relationships of McInerney's characters that particularly resonates with me. You need not have this in your life to enjoy Those Faraday Girls, however - the character development, plot, dialogue and writing are brilliant whatever your viewpoint. - Alex

The Lost Quilter - Jennifer Chiaverini

Hiring newcomer Gretchen was an even better decision than the Elm Creek Quilters initially realised, for she comes with a husband adept at woodwork and repairs. When Joe tries to repair a long-abandoned desk, he uncovers a small stack of letters addressed to Sylvia's great-great-aunt, Gerda Bergstrom. The first, sent in 1868, is a response to her repeated queries for information about a servant named Joanna - the name of the author is familiar to Sylvia from her earlier reading of Gerda's diaries, it sheds no light on what happened to Joanna, a recaptured runaway slave. The remaining letters, written almost thirty years later, are enquiries about a Douglass Frederick, a name unknown to Sylvia but clearly connected with the events of 1859.
Despite Joanna's best efforts, Josiah Chester - her owner and the father of her newborn son - recaptured her. Determined she not run away again, she has only a night or two at Greenfields Plantation, Virginia, the only home she's ever known, before being sent further south to live with his brother in South Carolina, where another escape attempt would be impossible.
Set primarily in the years leading to, during and shortly after the American Civil War, The Lost Quilter is a spell-binding, horrifying, triumphant novel of trust, betrayal, cruelty, kindness, humanity, prejudice and survival. Chiaverini manages to capture the casual disregard that results from believing other human beings are inherently unequal, describing barbarism that is more striking in its contrast to the illusion of Southern gentility. I found one scene, where Joanna attempts to escape during her return to Virginia, particularly effect - the change in attitude when a woman realises she's aided not a freed woman but a slave is fascinating and horrifying. And of course, quilts and quilting bind the narratives of the past and the present together.
One of the aspects I found most interesting is the justifications for slavery,

Negroes don't feel love or sadness the way [white people] do. They may give the appearance of true feeling, but they understand these sensations only in a brute, rudimentary way, such as a dog or horse might.

What culturally-mediated prejudices do we similarly harbour and justify?
This is a companion piece to The Runaway Quilt, where we first learned of Joanna and of the Bergstrom connection with the Underground Railway. - Alex

The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt

The Aloha Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini

Bonnie Markham has had a grim year - in the throes of an unpleasant divorce from a man she knew not nearly as well as she thought, she's also lost the quilting supplies shop she dreamed of and which was the financial and occupational centre of her life. When an old friend from college contacts her, it seems too good to be true - Claire needs her help, and her Elm Creek Quilts experience, setting up a quilter's retreat in Hawaii.
As well as learning an entirely new approach to quilting, Bonnie finds herself relaxing in the welcoming environment of America's fiftieth state - she knows little of Hawaii's history or culture, but is keen to learn, particularly after she strikes up a friendship with the brother of one of the Aloha Quilt camp's staff. But Bonnie's ex-husband hasn't finished with her yet, and he threatens not only her future but that of Elm Creek Quilts itself. Can Bonnie make a new life for herself, free of him?
Of course she can, but the journey to that point was very enjoyable and beautifully balanced. As I've written in my last few Elm creek reviews, I've been a little less involved in the last few novels, in part because of over-immersion in Chaiverini's world. In The Aloha Quilt I felt as engaged and interested as I was at the beginning.
Throughout the series the characters have been well crafted, well rounded and believable, with histories and flaws. The dialogue rings true and, with rare exceptions, actions aspring from believable motivations. There were several differences with The Aloha Quilts, though - all positive.
The first was the shift in focus - Sylvia appears as a secondary character, with most of the focus on Bonnie, a middle-aged divorcee used to putting the needs of her children and her husband ahead of her own. With the former now grown and the latter no longer her concern, Bonnie at the beginning of the book is pale and listless, with neither drive nor spirit. The novel traces her growth into a professional, with strength and attitude, a new man, a new home, and ownership of herself for the first time in her life. Threaded through this triumphant narrative is (of what I'm sure is only a hint) a history of the islands, culture and people of Hawai'i.
Events in her friend Claire's life, specifically her marriage, cause a rift that, though over-reactive, is believable in light of Bonnie's experiences. What I particularly liked, though, was Bonnie's dawning awareness of the role her own assumptions, preoccupations and lack of listening contributed to a situation that Claire would have found distressing and traumatic anyway.
There are romantic elements here, and there's certainly a happy ending, but The Aloha Quilt is only a romance in the sense that it deals with the lives of women. I think it's my favourite so far of this strong and engaging series that, until the final (for me, fourteenth for the series) chapter comes in to my branch. - Alex

The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt

The Quilter's Kitchen - Jennifer Chiaverini

Perhaps it's because, in the lead-up to a year without library books, I've glutted on the Elm Creek Quilts series, but I have become decreasingly enchanted by the novels, none more so than The Quilter's Kitchen. I knew going in that it was "an Elm Creek Quilters novel with recipes" because it says that right on the cover. I didn't expect, though, that it would be an account of new member Anna Del Maso's fledgling foray into life on the Bergstrom estate thinly layered between pages of recipes.
I've read several books that include recipes in the narrative, of which perhaps the best are Greenwood's Corinna Chapman novels, and have yet to cook a single dish from one. In Greenwood's version the recipes are few, packaged at the end of a section and easily skimmed over before returning to the narrative. In Chiaverini's version the recipes are the narrative, while the story serves the purpose of light flavouring. Each recipe is related to the text and to the characters, though I almost always had the sense that this was a slight stretch rather than an organic sequel to events. Although food plays a part in the rest of the series, there's a dwelling on it here that's laboured.
This isn't to say I didn't find sections of the Quilter's Kitchen interesting, though predominantly for reasons other than those I suspect Chiaverini intended. I noted, for example, the insistence in almost every recipe on kosher salt, something that I don't remember coming across in any of my wide collection of recipes, garnered from books, online and through friends and family. I had to Google it to discover what makes this kind of salt so special, and must confess that, despite reading a couple of descriptions (like this one), I don't really get how it's different from sea salt or Victoria's Murray River salt. Most of the things that caught my eye were contrasts with Australia cuisine, like canned pumpkin (unknown here outside specialist grocers, in contrast with what my Colorado-based sister tells me is a dearth of edible pumpkins in the US)

The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt

The Winding Ways Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini

As the composition of the Elm Creek Quilters changes, founder Sylvia searches for a way to represent, honour and welcome the departing and arriving members of Pennsylvania's most loved quilting camp. She decided to create a winding ways quilt, because of its symbolic meaning and its pattern of interconnecting curves and overlapping circles, representing the connectedness between the women.
In common with the rest of the series, quilting is representative of and a metaphor for life, particularly the lives of women in domestic occupations and with domestic preoccupations. As the group reflect on their time together we learn a little about their lives to this point, including how they met and where they're heading. For those familiar with the series this combines known information with new aspects, well enough integrated to be interesting, and written clearly enough for readers new to the series.
Also common to the series is the familiar theme of forgiveness and moving past significant events (loss, grief, betrayal, and just the changes of life) to continue the journey of life, as whole and self-realised as possible.
The Winding Ways Quilt was a pleasant read, but I'm also ready to take a break from the series, and have only two more novels to go. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt

The New Year's Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini

In keeping with the first holiday-themed novel, and really with the series as a whole, The New Year's Quilt uses events from the past to direct activity int he present. In this case, newly-wed Sylvia tackles the distance of her new daughter-in-law, Amy. Amy has opposed the re-marriage of her elderly, widowed father since the idea was first mentioned, and the couple's impetuous Christmas wedding did little to allay her misgivings. With the memory of how her estrangement from her sister Claudia only ended with her death, Sylvia works harder than she's inclined to in order to get to the bottom of Amy's opposition and help her see that together she and Andrew are happier and safer than they are apart.
The writing's good, the characters are well crafted and three dimensional, and the plot is strong, but I'm losing a little interest in the series. I had two main issues with The New Year's Quilt: the first is that I'm starting to get heartily sick of the Sylvia/Claudia thing. I understand that the relationship itself, as well as the rift, was hugely significant and tells us a lot about Sylvia as a character, but it was a long time ago and she has other relationships, so make peace already.
The other, bigger, issue is Amy - I don't buy that her opposition to the marriage is because she's concerned Andrew will get hurt again, or will be lumbered with a dependent wife to nurse should Sylvia fall ill (with, the implication is, a degenerative age-related condition like Alzheimer's). I appreciate that one's first reaction may be a knee jerk of concern, sadness over one's mother being replaced in one's father's affection, or something similar. But to think your surviving parent would be better off alone than with someone he clearly loves, who gives every indication of loving him, and who's fit, well, emotionally stable and financially secure seems bizarre.
this, fairly sizable, quibble aside, The New Year's Quilt does what it ought to. Were I not caught between a need for completeism and a dawning ban on library borrowings I think I'd space this series out more widely, and no doubt increase my enjoyment similarly. - Alex

The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt

The Quilter's Homecoming - Jennifer Chiaverini

Elizabeth Nelson left Pennsylvania with no little sadness - with one exceptiong she was leaving everyone she knew and loved behind her, from the security of her family's wealth to her adorable and stubborn young cousin Sylvia. It was that one exception, however, that made the leaving worthwhile, for Elizabeth was leaving home with her best friend and brand new husband, Henry.
Securely packed in their trunks are the quilts Elizabeth has made, lovingly and meticulously stitched together. As she packed, and as they make the long journey to California, Elizabeth imagines the first night in their new home, on the 120 acres of Triumph Ranch. but when the newly-weds arrive in the Arboles Valley they discover they are just the most recent of several couples duped by unscrupulous con men - there is no Triumph Ranch and their deed is a forgery. Penniless and dejected, Elizabeth and Henry have only their love for one another and their work ethic to support themselves.
I know next to nothing about the era (mid-nineteen twenties) or the region (America's west coast), but the historical details ring true, without being overt or forced. I really enjoyed reading The Quilter's Homecoming, in no small part because the mystery of Sylvia Bergstrom Compton's favourite cousin has been dangled before us in several previous novels. The biggest unanswered question - why she lost contact with the rest of the family - is answered, and having a new cast relieved a little of the ennui I've been feeling with the series, more due to my immersion in it that a decrease in creative quality, I suspect. - Alex

The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt

A Quilter's Holiday - Jennifer Chiaverini

Elm Creek Quilts has new faces, and as Thanksgiving approaches the final touches to the Manor are being made, in anticipation of the unofficial beginning of quilting season, which starts the day after Thanksgiving.
When Sylvia and her sister Claudia were children, Claudia's less meticulous basketwork became the focal point of a Bergstrom Thanksgiving ceremony - each family member would put something in the wicker cornucopia and, over dinner, as each item was withdrawn its owner would tell the story of how their object represented what they were grateful for that year.
While clearing out cupboards on the century-plus old kitchen, new chef Anna discovers an openwork basket, and another Elm creek tradition is reborn. The quilters have much for which to be thankful, and in A Quilter's Holiday they share their stories.
In this third holiday-themed Quilt novel, Chiaverini's technique is as adept as always, and her palette of well-rounded, flawed but good-hearted women is as rich as usual. However, most likely because I've been rushing before year's end to make my way through the series before our self-imposed ban/drastic reduction of library books takes place, I'm feeling a little tired of the characters and the stories. Some of the elements - like Sylvia and Claudia's childhood antagonism - feel like they should be resolved already. And, to be wholly contrary, I also felt faintly irritated by the neat wrapping up of other aspects, like Diane's relationship with her sons, and Gretchen's charity work.
There are certainly some lovely moments, including the resolution for Sylvia of some of her curiosity about her favourite cousin Elizabeth's life after leaving Pennsylvania (revealed in the novel before this, The Quilter's Homecoming). And, as I say, I suspect much of the dissatisfaction comes from the reader rather than a fault with the author. I have only one more Quilt novel to go, and I think a break will be the best thing for my connection witht he series. - Alex

The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt

Circle of Quilters - Jennifer Chiaverini

As two of the Elm Creek Quilters leave for new journeys, a significant gap has opened in the groups’ teaching roster. The Quilters agree that they need to hire people whose skills complement those of the remaining members, and whose personalities and priorities fit the culture of Elm Creek. The response to their advertisement is promising, with applicants from across the country, promising a broad range of teaching experience and quilting skills. As those on the short list visit Elm Creek for interview, tensions within the group emerge.
In a departure from Chiaverini’s usual style, Circle of Quilters opens with the story of the first prospective addiction to the group, care worker Maggie Flynn, from her arrival at Ocean View Hills Retirement Community and Convalescent Center to her post-interview departure, certain her performance was woeful. As Maggie leaves she bumps into a young woman dressed in a suit, dragging two small children along, which is how we meet Karen.
In each section the narrative starts with an applicant, tracing her or (in one case) his journey through quilting and through life to the point of interview, through the interview and transitions to the next. It was well done, surprisingly effective, and left me having trouble deciding which of the five very different applicants – Maggie, Karen, Anna, Russell and Gretchen – should get the two available places.
Each character has a compelling story and a strong, but different, reason for wanting to move to Pennsylvania and focus on quilting. And the novel also portrays how taking a decisive move, regardless of its success, can impel change in different areas – the process of application and interview changes all five people’s lives.
Chiaverini creates novels that have a balanced mix of character and plot, with both elements finely tuned. The characters are complex, flawed, capable of change, and real. The plots are primarily domestically based, as is the life of most of us, and Chiaverini explores the drama and power of ordinary lives, particularly in traditionally female arenas. I was on occasion reminded of Berg’s novels which, though quite different in tenor, similarly highlight the extraordinary in the lives of ordinary women. I know nothing at all of quilting, but that has in no way diminished my interest in this series. - Alex

The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt

The Christmas Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini

The first of the holiday-themed Elm Creek Quilt novels, The Christmas Quilt combines events from Sylvia Bergstrom's childhood with a contemporary Christmas. Sylvia's young partner Sarah is trying to introduce a little holiday spirit in to the manor, despite Sylvia's rather bah-humbug response to her every suggestion. Sylvia thinks Sarah should spend the day with her mother, Carol
with whom she's perpetually at odds. Sarah has abundant reason for her estrangement, chief of which is Carol's inability to accept Sarah's husband Matt as a fit life-partner for her (in part because she sees his degree in landscaping as him being 'just a gardener').
When Sarah unearths a half-finished but obviously Christmas-themed quilt amongst a box of long-neglected Christmas ornaments, Sylvia is reminded of events of a Christmas long ago. That Christmas marked the beginning of a year of change and growth, much of it bitter, for Sylvia. The Great Depression was beginning to bite, and for the first time its effects were felt in Elm Creek Manor. Sylvia's mother, unwell since childhood, seemed oblivious and was intent of recreating her locally famous apple strudel, not only for the Bergstroms but for their friends and neighbours, despite the growing price of luxuries. Unable to complete the baking, this Christmas was the first that Sylvia and her older sister Claudia were entrusted with the task.
It was a year of loss for Sylvia, and the first of these came at Christmas, when her favourite cousin, Elizabeth, announces her engagement to a young man. Already jealous that Elizabeth seems more interested in this boring man than her, Sylvia is distraught when the couple reveal they'll be moving east, to a ranch Henry's bought in California. Sylvia knows she'll never see her cousin again, and tries valiantly to make Elizabeth stay.
This long-ago experience, combined with the death of her own mother not long after that Christmas, informs Sylvia's decision to more strongly encourage Sarah to make peace with Carol. In turn, Sylvia finally makes peace with her now-dead sister, Claudia.
Like the rest of the series, The Christmas Quilt uses the art of quilting to piece together a portrait of feminine lives and values - the setting is domestic, the relationships are most complicated among kin, and the writing is meticulous and almost invisible. There are a couple of dangling threads, including the tantalising question of what happened to Elizabeth, and I finished the novel with a sense of quiet satisfaction. - Alex

The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt

The Sugar Camp Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini

Dorothea Granger has known for as long as she can remember that her family are dependent on the kindness and support of her cantankerous Uncle Jacob, a strict man who seems to see the good in none. While his heir, her younger brother Jonathan, is studying in Baltimore, Dorothea and her parents live in his home and are dependent on his support. Dorothea’s wages as school marm go to her uncle, and her parents work under his direction on the farm, a galling step down for a couple who once co-owned a Transcendentalist commune with a group of like-minded Christians, until Thrift Farm flooded and the group disbanded. Uncle Jacob was apparently once a gentle and loving soul, but the deaths of his young abolitionist wife and their infant sons changed that. Now his only family is his younger brother Robert, sister-in-law Lorena, and niece; he appears to take no pleasure in their company or pride in their accomplishments, choosing to spend most of his time alone in his barn or tending the maple trees that are their source of support. But things are not always as they seem, and in the space of only a few months Dorothea’s life changes profoundly – she loses her position at the local school house to a man rumoured to have once been in jail, is shunned by a young man she thought shared her tendresse, and becomes involved in the underground railway, smuggling run-away slaves from the south through Pennsylvania to the safe haven of Canada. Though technically part of the Elm Creek Quilt series, The Sugar Camp Quilt stands alone, taking place wholly in the mid-nineteenth century. Quilts and quilting, of course, play a significant role in this story that is compelling and interesting. I’ve long had an interest in the abolitionist movement, at a remove, of course. Chiaverini’s usual attention to detail is present in The Sugar Camp Quilt, with perhaps more research than in the contemporary novels but at no time to I feel hit over the head with the Stick of I researched This. There’s romance, of a discreet nature appropriate to the time, the revelation of secrets, and some very nice character development. I suspect I’m starting to overdo the series, in an effort to get them all read before my self-imposed library diet for 2011, but The Sugar Camp Quilt was a very pleasant way of staying in Chiaverini’s well-crafted world while taking a break from her more familiar characters. – Alex

The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt

Never Look Away - Linwood Barclay

Investigative reporter David Harwood’s been concerned about his wife Jan’s apparent depression – she’s been taking mental health days at work, had a couple of not so accidental accidents, and told him of flirting with the idea of jumping of a nearby bridge. So when she has the idea of a family expedition to the local amusement park David jumps at the idea, even if their four year old son Ethan is more anxious about roller coasters than excited. When Jan loses Ethan, taking her eyes off his stroller for only an instant, David is terrified. The sleeping child is found within minutes, before park security even start looking, but David’s relief is short-lived, because Jan abruptly vanishes. Unlike Ethan, not only does she stay vanished, the preliminary investigation shows no sign of her entering Five Mountains, of booking the tickets, or even of her recent depression. As David looks increasingly like the chief suspect in a domestic crime he tries desperately to make sense of his life, and his marriage.

Barclay’s stock in trade is domestic terror, and Never Look Away is a worthy addition to a fine stable. The reader is quickly aware that David was duped from the beginning, and as the novel unfolds we learn more about Jan’s motivation, alongside David’s increasingly frantic search to uncover the truth and protect his child. There’s also a secondary plot, about a political intrigue David was working on in the lead up to the Five Mountain’s trip, and some nice character development overall. There are a couple of gory moments, but for the most part this is more a psychological suspense and very well done; though not my favourite of his works to date, Barclay off his best nonetheless excels. - Alex

Eat Cake - Jeanne Ray

Ruth has always sought refuge in baking - something about the alchemy and fragrance brought her peace and clarity. Between the sulky teenage stranger who was once her daughter, and her perpetually worried mother, who moved in a year ago when her home was robbed, Ruth thought her life was complicated and stressed. When her beloved hospital administrator husband, Sam, came home and told her that a company restructuring meant he was now redundant, it seemed less important than Camille's latest obsession or her mother's fretting about medical bills - he was great at what he did, and would surely have no trouble finding a new job.
Life was a little less rosy the next day, though, and just as the realities of his unemployment were beginning to hit Sam and Ruth, she received a call from her peripatetic musician father, Guy. He'd fallen, breaking both wrists, and has nowhere to go, no way to pay his medical bills. And even though her home is now home to her mother, the woman who raised her alone when Guy took off for greener pastures, Ruth has no choice but to bring her father home from Iowa to stay, at least until his wrists healed.
of course, as her life becomes more complicated Ruth turns even increasingly to baking - her cakes become more intricate and complex. For not only does she has the increasingly strained relationship between her invalid father, unable to do much of anything for himself, and her justifiably pissed off mother to deal with, Guy's influence filters through the household. Most notably affected is Sam, who looses all impetus to seek stable work and instead focuses on his lifelong dream to sail.
Eat Cake is a chick lit novel for the older reader - there's a little romance, but the main narrative is about Ruth's changing life and how she responds to the series of significant but not devastating events. It's about empowerment, as Ruth takes charge of her the family income, turning her hobby into a career, and about taking a new look at what you think you know - most significantly your family.
I enjoyed the ride, but nothing particularly stood out, though that comment's a little unfair as I'm writing this review at least a month after reading the book. - Alex

The Master Quilter - Jennifer Chiaverini

When Sylvia Compton wed Andrew in a quiet service on New Year's Eve, without the fanfare they'd planned, the Elm Creek Quilters feel cheated of their opportunity to show their founder how much she meant to them. That is until they have the brilliant idea of making her a wedding quilt, with pieces from quilting friends and students past and present. The Quilters secretly send out letters to everyone on their mailing list and Sylvia's address book, inviting them to contribute a block in green, rose, cream, gold and/or blue cotton, in a pattern that reflects "how Sylvia had influenced you as an artist, teacher, or friend." Their plan is that the incoming blocks, which they hope with approximate a hundred and forty, into a queen-sized memory and tribute.
The Quilters expect that life will get in the way of creation for at least some of their potential contributors. They don't expect the same to be true for themselves. But as each member of the group tries to work on her own block - selecting the most appropriate pattern, seekinga out the perfect fabric - her life intrudes. As relationships shift, financial pressures mount, and the tensions between the want and expectations of loved ones war with the artists' own needs, creating their pieces becomes harder work than any of them anticipated.
Chiaverini's characteristic elements are present - her women are strong, intelligent, focused but flawed, coloured by their experiences and with lives sometimes unexamined. She interweaves social commentary with the plot, creating an unobtrusive but strong message. For example, she presents the male domination of academia, as Gwen is passed by for department chair in favour of a woman whose work concentrates on topics more 'hard and substantial' than quilting, while countering the claim with evidence that quilts are both art and relevant to social historians.
And when Summer, who has accepted her mother's attitude about relationships and self-worth without examination, she hides the changing status of her latest relationship, Chiaverini beautifully depicts the tension between private thought and public display.
I'm pacing myself a little better with this series than with my devouring of Ms Shinn's work, but it's a struggle. And now I know an author I can turn to when I need writing that soothes, satisfies, challenges and engages. - Alex

The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt

The Quilter's Legacy - Jennifer Chiaverini

Sylvia Compton is looking forward to marrying Andrew, the beau from her past who unexpectedly reappeared in her present, long past the time she thought she could expect love to find her again. She's looking forward to marriage, but exhausted by the wedding planning process - and her Elm Creek Quilts friends seem determined to turn what ought to be a quiet, garden ceremony into a major performance.
When Sylvia realises that her mother's quilts aren't safely stored in Elm Creek Manor's attic, as she supposed, but were instead sold off by her sister, Sylvia finds something else to focus on. With the assistance of the youngest Elm Creek Quilter, Summer, Sylvia and Andrew launch a hunt for the missing quilts - first online and then in person. They drive across America, quilt hunting en route to visiting Andrew's children, to let them know about the forthcoming wedding.

Using the stories of the missing quilts, Chiaverini launches into an unexplored past and a secondary plot - we visit 1899 and meet Eleanor, the protected younger daughter of a self-made businessman. Eleanor was never expected to survive childhood, and the doctor's grim diagnoses serve as obstacles to overcome rather than limitations. With the tacit encouragement of her governess, Miss Langley, Eleanor develops into a woman capable of thinking for herself, rather than a meek and mild miss, subservient to her family's needs.

Chiaverini has clearly researched the era, as details subtly rise through the text, but there's never even a hint of leaden exposition. Instead the reader learns about suffrage in the US at the turn of the last century, alongside changing mores and the tight grasp of tradition.

The rounded, developed characters, strong but believable women, crisp dialogue, involving plot and satisfying ending are a given. The Quilter's Legacy also incorporating all my favourite elements of Chiaverini's writing - a neat marriage of past and present, the way family lore and assumption can contort, depictions of the way events of the past trickle into the present, crystalline portrayals of the complexity of family relationships, and the tension between pleasing others and pleasing oneself. It's been almost month between reading The Quilter's Legacy and reviewing it, and revisiting this lovely book makes me want to read it again. Just lovely. - Alex

The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt

The Runaway Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini

When Sylvia Compton, owner of Elm Creek Manor and lifelong quilter, is shown a quilt that may have been part of the Underground Railway, she's spurred to search through the vast attic for evidence that, as family legend suggests, her family were part of the anti-slavery journey. Though evidence suggests that the Log Cabin pattern, long believed to signal willingness to harbour runaway slaves, actually evolved after the Civil War, Sylvia's keen to find a quilt supporting her more romantic beliefs.
When she finds not only a couple of truly old quilts but also the diary of Gerda, Elm Creek patriarch Hans' spinster sister, Sylvia's a little disappointed - she had hoped for something from his wife Anneke who, according to family lore, played an integral part. Instead Sylvia learns some painful truths about her family, and is more immersed in and connected to the past than she realised.
The fourth book in the Elm Creek Quilts series takes us back to the Manor, and once again shows how domestic work both binds women and families together, and pushes them apart. The writing is as crisp and evocative as previously, while the plot is unique and textured - both Gerda's journals and Sylvia's responses are genuine and involving, and the layering of truths with family lore, a natural preference to project oneself in the best light, and the blurring distortion of history are well depicted, so that the contrast between Sylvia's certain knowledge and Gerda's near-contemporaneous recollections is interesting and believable.
Since reading about Harriet Tubman when a child, I've been interested in this time in American history, and I really liked the mingling of past with present, as the work of women speaks to them over time. Runaway Quilt is a powerful, absorbing novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. The Lost Quilter (book fourteen in the series) is a companion piece to The Runway Quilt - Alex

The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt