The Quilter's Homecoming
Jennifer Chiaverini is one of my favorite authors. She writes books about women who quilt. These books are not necessarily about quilts, rather they are about women and their relationship to a quilter or a quilt or both! Quilts are a wonderful connection.
I have had The Quilter’s Homecoming book sitting on my nightstand for quite some time. I have been sewing or doing other things and have generally been too tired to read when I go to bed. Last night, I picked up the book and read until midnight. Today I sat out in the yard and finished the whole book. Yes, it was that good. It helped that we took a vacation day today. We knew we would want to visit with my sister and her family while they were here for our son’s wedding. They left this morning and I read all day long.
From Amazon’s editorial:
Elizabeth accompanies her new husband to California in 1925. Together the newlyweds plan to get into the ranching business in the verdant Arboles Valley, north of Los Angeles. Things don’t quite work out as planned, but Elizabeth and Henry Nelson are strong enough to make the most of their situation. Will they really ride out their difficulties in California? Or will Henry send Elizabeth back to Pennsylvania and the Bergstrom family?
The other half of the story belongs to Isabel Rodriguez, whom we first join in 1875. Much of the land of the Arboles Valley, including its signature apricot orchards, belonged to Isabel’s family for generations. But drought and development prey on their ancestral lands, and eventually a Norwegian family named Jorgensen takes over the property. That day marks the beginning of seemingly bad times for the Rodriguezes, and then the Diazes, and for Isabel and her family in particular. When her daughter Rosa is courted by two men — one of them, Lars Jorgensen — the right choice to make seems clear. But is it? And once made, how can a woman at the turn of the last century deal with an abusive relationship?
This tale-told-in-tandem is simply mesmerizing, as we switch scenes from Elizabeth to Isabel / Rosa, slightly off-kilter because of the time discrepancy. But of course we know full well that the threads will come together at some point. The quilts in these women’s lives provide part of the connection.
