Blurb:
Maybelle can't sew. But when she finds an unfinished quilt in the attic of her mother's house, she gets the crazy idea to complete it. At first, it's just a way to fill the lonely nights while her husband, staff sergeant Holden Kanzinzki, is away fighting in World War II.
Yet when Maybelle discovers that the quilt is made from scraps of material that can be traced through her family heritage, the project is suddenly much more important. Then word comes that Holden is missing in action, and with little else to do, Maybelle clings to the quilt as much as to the hope that her husband is still alive. As neighborhood friends gather round Maybelle to hep her through the unknown days and nights ahead, it is the quilt that becomes a symbol of her unflagging belief that Holden will return - to her, to their home, and to their quilt-covered bed.
Review:
I love historic fiction, and a love story and anything to do
with sewing (I am a quilter myself) but this book fell very flat for me. I can understand that people who have family
serving in wartime will constantly think of them but Maybelle is such a weak
soppy character even though she welds ships. It seems that she has been coddled
by her mother and has no domestic capabilities.
During a clearing out session Maybelle comes across a quilt that
her mother had started. She was
persuaded by her best friend Doris to complete the quilt and got a couple of
girls to help. I personally would have
just edged the already created section and make a cushion cover as how would
one know what fabric her mother had planned to use next. But then if that was the case there would be
no story.
This novel lacks so much detail. Maybelle can weld but not sew and that is all
we get. We are given no detail of her
work in the ship yard. Was it heavy
work, was it hot. How intricate did she
need to be, how was she recruited to that rather than a land girl?
Then again the fabric that Maybelle found and the threads
used for the quilt were equally passed over.
What were service stripes for example, what were they made of? What colour were they. What colour was Lois’s baby blanket? So many rich and varied pieces of the pattern
were left unanswered. It was a means to
engage the first from the ship yard and to while away the hours until the next
shift. Instead of a weekly meeting, as
would appear to be the norm, these girls meet every day after their shift in
the ship yard.
The quilt turned into a monster and it was a shame that the
group didn’t each take part of the original quilt and add to it to make a
series of quilts; in that way they would all have had a piece of each other’s
memories, hopes and dreams. It is clear
that the quilt started to represent many things to the girls that worked on it
(the quilt), not least it was a way for coping with the redundancy of life and
a bright hope for the future; and a loved one’s return. There was obviously more than enough fabric
to make a series of Hope quilts that could have kept all of the girls warm.
We do get quite a lot about trusting God and leaving your
troubles with him. But this is more from
the viewpoint of Doris that Maybelle who seems to have lost faith (as we all do
from time to time). Unlike other religious
based books though the mentions of religion here did not seem in the least bit
false. Perhaps religion played a greater
part in people’s lives during WWII.
Although this book is
readable it is not really about the quilt or the lives of the girls it is more
about faith. This reader was ultimately
disappointed in what could have been a wonderfully rich novel. The intention was there but unfortunately,
the execution was rather lacking. This
short read sell well short of this readers expectations
I think that perhaps part of my disappointment was as a
result of reading this ARC what as littered with errors. Not only did the author use the wrong names
in at least two sequences but there was a whole chunk where the timeline was totally
out. It is this reader’s fervent hope
that these errors were corrected before this novel went to final print.
Another factor leading to this reader's disappointment was that the synopsis and the novel are really at odds. If these things don't bother you and you like snapshots of life during 1940's America then this is for you. If you want a book about quilts, you are better off reading The Forgotten Seamstress by Liz Trenow.
Full
Disclosure: I received a free copy from Netgalley for an honest review.
I rated this book 2 stars on Netgalley and 'I did not like it' on Goodreads (1 star) and Amazon (2 stars).
