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Title details for The Christmas Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini - Available

The Christmas Quilt

#8 in series

by Jennifer Chiaverini
Christina Moore
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
When Christmas Eve comes to Elm Creek Manor, the tenor of the holiday is far from certain. Sylvia Bergstrom Compson, the Master Quilter, has her own reasons for preferring a quiet, even subdued, Christmas. Her young friend Sarah McClure, however, takes the opposite view and decides to deck the halls brightly. As she explores the trunks packed with Bergstrom family decorations that haven't been touched in more than fifty years, Sarah discovers a curious Christmas quilt. Begun in seasonal fabrics and patterns, the quilt remains unfinished. Sylvia reveals that the handiwork spans several generations and a quartet of Bergstrom quilters — her great aunt, her mother, her sister, and herself. As she examines the array of quilt blocks each family member contributed but never completed, memories of Christmases past emerge. At Elm Creek Manor, Christmas began as a celebration of simple virtues — joy and hope buoyed by the spirit of giving. As each successive generation of Bergstroms lived through its unique trials — the antebellum era, the Great Depression, World War II — tradition offered sustenance even during the most difficult times. For Sylvia, who is coping with the modern problem of family dispersed, estranged, or even forgotten, reconciliation with her personal history may prove as elusive as piecing the Christmas Quilt. Elm Creek Manor is full of secrets, from a Christmas tree with unusual properties to the sublime Bergstrom strudel recipe. Sylvia's tales at first seem to inform her family legacy but ultimately illuminate far more, from the importance of women's art to its place in commemorating our shared experience, at Christmastime and in every season.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Elm Creek Quilts

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 1, 2014

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781490628837
      • File size: 184894 KB
      • Duration: 06:25:11

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 29, 2005
      Chiaverini, author of the Elm Creek Quilts novels, delivers a rich holiday tale that predates last year's Master Quilter
      , also set during the Christmas season. Sylvia Compson, née Bergstrom, 77, is determined to make it the dullest holiday ever at Elm Creek Manor, to which she returned, a year and a half ago, after 50 years of estrangement. Her Bergstrom relatives are gone; her memories of Christmas past are fraught. But young Sarah McClure, Sylvia's partner in the quilting camp that's brought Elm Creek back to life, wants to spend Christmas with Sylvia—and she wants it tinsel strewn. Home is here now, not with the mother who dislikes Sarah's husband, Matt. Sylvia reluctantly agrees to visit the trove of ornaments in the attic. As the women discover an unfinished Christmas quilt, a mixed bag of memories spills out along with the feathered star blocks: strudel making in the Depression; tree trimming during World War II, which claimed Sylvia's husband, brother and a baby born too soon because of her shock; memories of a sister, Claudia, who forfeits Sylvia's love until it's too late. Reconciliation and redemption: of course. But it's not won cheaply—there's no saccharine in this sweet story. Agent, Maria Massie
      .

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Sylvia's new housemate, Sarah McClure, insists on a festive Elm Creek Manor Christmas. In a box of decorations, the women find pieces of a quilt begun in Sylvia's childhood, with contributions from several family members. Christina Moore finds exactly the right voices for Sylvia and Sarah, as well as for the much older and younger family members in Sylvia's past. Moore switches effortlessly between the senior Sylvia and her childhood self, refraining from clichéd performances of either. Today's Sylvia sounds like a sensitive, complex, sometimes pained woman, very different from the adult her impetuous childhood personality promised. Each of Moore's male characters speaks with his own voice, and her narrative passages tie the package together with a beautiful Christmas bow. R.L.L. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 31, 2005
      Chiaverini, author of the Elm Creek Quilts novels, delivers a rich holiday tale that predates last year's Master Quilter , also set during the Christmas season. Sylvia Compson, ne Bergstrom, 77, is determined to make it the dullest holiday ever at Elm Creek Manor, to which she returned, a year and a half ago, after 50 years of estrangement. Her Bergstrom relatives are gone; her memories of Christmas past are fraught. But young Sarah McClure, Sylvia's partner in the quilting camp that's brought Elm Creek back to life, wants to spend Christmas with Sylvia--and she wants it tinsel strewn. Home is here now, not with the mother who dislikes Sarah's husband, Matt. Sylvia reluctantly agrees to visit the trove of ornaments in the attic. As the women discover an unfinished Christmas quilt, a mixed bag of memories spills out along with the feathered star blocks: strudel making in the Depression; tree trimming during World War II, which claimed Sylvia's husband, brother and a baby born too soon because of her shock; memories of a sister, Claudia, who forfeits Sylvia's love until it's too late. Reconciliation and redemption: of course. But it's not won cheaply--there's no saccharine in this sweet story. Agent, Maria Massie .

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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