Jennifer Chiaverini, A Quilter’s Holiday

A Quilter's Holiday

Jennifer Chiaverini

Simon & Schuster, Nov 2009, $19.99

ISBN: 9781439139325

Every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving, the Elm Street Quilters gather to spend time with friends stitching gifts for loved ones. This year is special as each person creates a quilting block to add to the cornucopia that symbolizes what they are most pleased about. The event is a success but a snowstorm threatens to strand everyone at Em Court Manor.

Diane leaves anyway, but ends up stranded with a chargeless cell phone. Sylvia who once was the sole owner of Elm Creek Manor hopes that Summer, a founder of Elm Creek Quilts, has found through research her blood relatives living in California. Sarah, another founding mother of Elm Creek Quilts, learns her husband will not be there for her pregnancy because his father needs him to run the family business. Anna the manor's chef tells Jeremy , the boyfriend of another founding mother, that she loves him even as he is driving to the dorm of his girlfriend Summer. Gretchen seeks a cause to serve. Gwen misses her daughter Summer while finishing a quilt to thank the person responsible for giving her mentor a bone marrow transplant. Quilters unable to come are missed but remembered.

More a series of vignettes that update the quilters' lives especially their personal problems; this novel targets the fans of Elm Creek Quilts. This novel will leave readers laughing, crying and empathizing with the woes of the quilters. Fans will relish this entry but to learn what happens to the Quilters and their staff the audience will need to continue with the next saga. For the Elm Creek Manor horde, Jennifer Chiaverini stitches a fine character driven tale of friendship.

Harriet Klausner