Pamela C. (pj-s-bookcorner) reviewed The Lost Quilter (Elm Creek Quilts, Bk 14) on + 885 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
I've read all but one of the books in this series, and I believe this one is one of my favorites. As in all Chiaverini's books, I love her character development. This books goes back in the Elm Creek history to the runaway slave that was harbored pre-Civil War. It follows her life's story thru the end of the Civil War. Excellent!!!!!
Helpful Score: 3
I am so in agreement with Cynthia; while I have thoroughly enjoyed the Elm Creek series, enough already with the slavery issue. It is a very dark (no pun intended) period of American history and for the most part one that does not need to be dredged up over and over, especially when you consider that pretty much everything you read about the so called "Underground Quilts" has been proven by scholars to be a fanciful figment of overworked imaginations. Like so much of the Elm Creek series when it comes to the slavery parts, romantic, fanciful nonsense.
I am a Black quilter and fabric store owner and, having lived in a house that was purported to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad, I have done a lot of research on the Underground Quilts and, as romantic a notion as it is, there is a lot of evidence that says it just ain't so. It seems to be a badly misguided attempt by many people to put an pretty dress on an ugly child. The same seems to be true with the Lost Quilter.
I am a Black quilter and fabric store owner and, having lived in a house that was purported to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad, I have done a lot of research on the Underground Quilts and, as romantic a notion as it is, there is a lot of evidence that says it just ain't so. It seems to be a badly misguided attempt by many people to put an pretty dress on an ugly child. The same seems to be true with the Lost Quilter.
Melissa B. (melissaab) reviewed The Lost Quilter (Elm Creek Quilts, Bk 14) on + 38 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I really enjoyed this book. I was able to finish it very quickly and was disappointed when I came to the end. I did not realize it was so far into the series. I have not read any of the other books but I will look them up now. I do recommend this book to others!
Helpful Score: 1
Greatly enjoyed the continuation of the family's story. Historical novels have always been some of my favorite reading material. Would suggest to anyone who has an interest in the Civil War, slavery or quilting!
Helpful Score: 1
Up to this point, I have enjoyed every one of the Elm Creek Quilt novels, but I certainly hope that Chiaverini is done with her slavery-themed books. Could she have included any more stereotypical anti-Southern characters and characteristics in a single work? In the final pages, she writes, "There had been hundreds, even thousands, of such remarkable women in every era," yet not one of the Southern women of the mid-1800's of whom Chiaverini writes bears the least of any redeeming feature. May the last sentence of the book be true: "a quest that seemed, at last, to have reached its end." This reader hopes Chiaverini's 'quest' to vilify is all things Southern and to sanctify all things Northern is at its end as well. Maybe she will now take on the mine, mill and factory owners of the North who enslaved the Northern poor way beyond 1865.
