The Runaway Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini

by Tristi Pinkston | More from this Blogger

30 Mar 2007 10:11 PM

I've read all the books in the Elm Creek Quilts series, but I have to say, this one is my favorite.

Sylvia Compson, accomplished quilter and owner of Elm Creek Manor, is finishing up a lecture on the history of quilting when a woman from the audience named Margaret approaches her with an unusual quilt. Obviously over a hundred years old and well-used, the quilt nonetheless is fascinating to Sylvia. From the front, it looks like a series of quilt patterns sewn together into one, but from the back, it's a map to Elm Creek Manor.

As she drives home, she tells her good friend Andrew that Elm Creek Manor had been a station on the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, and she wonders if that quilt had been created to show runaway slaves the way to safety. But how was the quilt created, and how did Margaret come to possess it?

Upon returning to Elm Creek Manor, Sylvia heads straight for the attic. She seems to recall hearing that a trunk had been stored there, holding articles belonging to her ancestors, the people who built the manor. Perhaps in that trunk, she will find the answers she needs. Opening the lid, she finds a Log Cabin quilt, the center squares of which are black. Traditionally, the squares were red or yellow to signify a warm hearth. Those who wished to help the slaves would put a black square on their quilts as a signal of safety, then hang the quilt on the laundry line outside where the fleeing slaves could see it. Intrigued, Sylvia digs deeper, to find a journal written years ago. We go with Sylvia into the pages of that journal, feeling her emotions as she reads the story of her family long dead.

This novel takes us deep into the past and reveals some of the secrets of Elm Creek Manor through historical events that will at once tug at your hearts strings and increase your understanding of that crucial time in America's youth.

(This book was published in 2002 by Simon and Schuster.)

Related Blogs:

Author Review -- Jennifer Chiaverini

The Quilter's Apprentice

Round Robin

Learn more about Tristi Pinkston

I've been a blogger for Families.com since August of 2006.

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mommy2067 (19626) 02 Apr 2007 07:42 AM

I too have read all of her books and thoroughly enjoyed this one too!! It was like living out both stories in the one...books are great escapes and adventures!!! I just read your basic philosophy of life and I couldn't agree more my friend!!!

Tristi Pinkston (10839) 02 Apr 2007 05:05 PM

I'm glad you've enjoyed the quilt series too. It's hard to find uplifting stories sometimes!