Master quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson treasures an antique quilt called by three names - Birds in the Air, after its pattern; the Runaway Quilt, after the woman who sewed it; and the Elm Creek Quilt, after the place to which its maker longed to return. That quilter was Joanna, a fugitive slave who traveled by the Underground Railroad to reach safe haven in 1859 at Elm Creek Farm.'This is book fourteen in the excellent Elm Creek Quilts series - the story told here answers a number of questions raised in preceding stories. The thread of the quilt mystery has woven its way through several other titles, and the characters have spent much time in speculating on what may have happened to Joanna.
Being a Jennifer Chiaverini novel, it is of course told with great skill, warmth, compassion, excitement and emotion. For those of us without a great depth of knowledge of slavery in America, it is an awakening. The story flows seamlessly from the current day to the decades surrounding the Civil War and back again in a fashion that is fabulously detailed, emotionally entwining and heartwarmingly satisfying; this is yet another really good read!
No comments:
Post a Comment