book cover of The Master Quilter
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The Master Quilter

(2004)
(The sixth book in the Elm Creek Quilts series)
A novel by

 
 
Publisher's Weekly
Even a newcomer to the popular Elm Creek Quilts series will quickly get caught up in the lives of the ladies who stitch. Sylvia Compson, the doyenne of the quilters who teach their art at the Elm Creek Quilt Camp, has married Andrew Cooper-an occasion of joy, with one hitch. The surprise Christmas Eve wedding meant Sylvia's friends didn't have time to craft the requisite bridal quilt. Will 140 six-inch blocks arrive by April 1? Sarah McClure is betting they will, but her husband, Matt, bets two weeks of breakfast in bed that Sarah can't keep a secret for three months. Not all the tension in the book is quite so mellow, though. Summer Sullivan has to decide how to define being her own woman. Does it mean staying in Waterford with the quilters or following her love, Jeremy, when he finishes graduate school? And Bonnie Markham has big woes: her fabric shop, Grandma's Attic, is running in the red, and her husband, Craig, has been conniving with evil realtor Greg Krolich to push her over the edge. This is the modern world, with cell phones and cybersex, but Chiaverini's quilting women are also a world apart. They feel one another's joys and griefs acutely; their lives are stitched together. The author's style is clean, and almost YA simple, and her dialogue is uninspired. Yet she intensifies the story's texture by retelling key scenes from multiple points of view, and along the way she enriches the reader's awareness of quilting's importance as a female art form and a source of deep common bonds. Agent, Mary Massie. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal
In this sixth edition of the "Elm Creek Quilt" series, the upcoming wedding of "master quilter" Sylvia Compson does not exactly have everyone in stitches. With a ten-city author tour. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews
In this sixth of a series (a project that has spawned a quilting book and a line of Elm Creek fabrics), fans will find a pastiche of melodrama, female empowerment, and, of course, a quilting project. Elm Creek Manor, the ancestral home of Sylvia Compson, has become a thriving school and meeting place for quilters. Sylvia is the guiding spirit of the operation, though she has the help of her eight co-owners, friends and confidants who run the school. This time, the story is centered on these friends, allowing each a chapter, though each quilter's narrative covers the same time-frame and events. Sarah begins, secretly arranging a wedding quilt for Sylvia and her dapper new husband Andrew. The old couple eloped, and Sarah is asking former Elm Creek students each to send in a block for the quilt. Summer, the youngest member, then takes up the storyline, struggling with how to tell her mother Gwen (also an Elm Creek Quilter and a university professor) that she has moved in with her boyfriend. Given that Summer is almost thirty, it seems an odd dilemma, but when Gwen does find out, she's livid that her daughter is sacrificing her independence to a man. We soon learn Gwen has problems of her own. Expecting to be named chair in her department, she's passed over because of the seriousness of her academic research (or perceived lack thereof) in, you guessed it, quilting. The most charged chapter belongs to Bonnie. Her husband has changed the locks on their home, drained their bank account, and is trying to sell their condo to an unscrupulous developer. If that's not enough, Bonnie's beloved fabric store is robbed and vandalized, with the thief (who may be someone she knows) stealing all of theblocks sent in for Sylvia's wedding quilt. Never fear, all turns out well in Elm Creek country. Fans will love the further development of the Elm Creek characters, though others may find the plotting a bit staid. Author tour. Agent: Maria Massie/Witherspoon Associates

Genre: General Fiction

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