1857 Album Quilt Top Finished!

When Gay Boomers of Sentimental Stitches saw an 1857 Album quilt it caught her interest. The original quilt was machine quilted. When she won the auction for the quilt Gay decided to draft patterns based on the 64 blocks and share them through her website.

1857 Album quilt top by Nancy A. Bekofske

Beginning in January 2016 Gay released several block patterns a month, free of charge. A Facebook page was set up so those who were making the quilt could share their progress.

Some of the first blocks from 1857 Album

I finally completed my quilt top. There is a border pattern available but I don't need a quilt that large. I have substituted some patterns with my own inventions.

I created the inkwell to reflect my interest in writing

The patterns are now for sale at her website at http://sentimentalstitches.net/free-stuff/block-of-the-month-quilt-designs/the-1857-album-quilt/

1857 Album block

It was interesting to have found a 1938 magazine article by Florence Peto with a quilt that is very similar to Gay's. The border Gay offers is similar to the one in the quilt in the article.

1857 Album block

I shared the entire article at https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2016/01/old-quilts-tell-story-by-florence-peto.html

I used green, red, and orange as my main applique colors

Here is the part of the article in which Peto describes the Houseman quilt:

"Although little verifiable biography enlightens the genesis of the merry Housman Quilt, the spirit of a locality animates it and it is vibrant with sentiment, symbolism, and the interests of a family. It was made in 1859, which is not old as quilts go. The present owner inherited it from an aunt whom she had seldom seen and she knows only that it was made in the Housman family which had Dutch ancestry; historical records show them to have lived on Staten Island as early as 1675. It is believed that some young son of the Housmans emigrated to Pennsylvania where he married a girl born and bred to German traditions. Being, therefore, well versed in local folklore, her patchwork took on the exuberant quality of a regional document which, at her passing, went to the Staten Island branch of the family.

The Houseman Quilt

"Occupying central position is the red calico homestead with building-stones, and chimneys embroidered in chain stitches; ornamental stitchery is so often seen superimposed on the appliqué work of Pennsylvania-made quilts, it is tempting to call it characteristic. On both sides of the date have been placed pineapples, domestic symbol of hospitality. One of them, pieced of tiny rectangular patches hardly as large as your own small fingernail, has acquired a remarkable realistic effect. Left of center are two formalized trees of life, a little stark and primitive, but often seen in this form on other pieces of local handiwork. On each side of the house are more naturalistic, fruit-bearing trees under whose branches cocks and hens strut and feed. Baby's hands, scissors, and the baby's cradle over which hovers the dove, in this instance symbol of innocence, suggest woman's occupations. The capacious coffee mug, fancifully inscribed "John Demorest" and the Masonic and Odd Fellows' emblems, indicate masculine tastes and interests. There is speculation in the meaning of the Punch-and-Judy-looking figures; they may be Grandpa and Grandma Horseman; one or both may have had the disconcerting habit of mislaying his or her spectacles. Under the debonair horseman in orange breeches and green coat, "Euphemia" is stitched in outline; there is sad implication in the little riderless pony, who, by the way, carries an English saddle.

"Of not so personal but more general interest are the flower forms. Left of the house is seen a conventionalized passion flower. The lute as a motif was often employed by music-loving people, while oak leaves (top row, right of center) bring to mind German songs and stories; it is written that in ancient oak groves Germanic forebears worshiped their gods and held their communal assemblies. In Pennsylvania the double rose, fuchsia, pomegranate, and tulip are constantly recurrent motifs in the adornment of dower chests, household utensils, and needlework.

"Your old quilt may be decorated lavishly with hearts or there may be just one tucked away unobtrusively in a corner; the presence of a heart or dove indicated a bride's quilt. In the Housman Quilt a circle of hearts has been arranged in a round patch. The Star and Crescent (upper right-hand corner of the quilt) painted on a barn was a potent talisman to ward off unfriendly spirits from cattle and still other symbols had the property to insure prolific increase. Left of the Star and Crescent is the St. Andrew's Cross; though more often placed in a circle, in this quilt it has been set in a square. The St. Andrew's Cross, sure protection against sorcery, was a favorite hex mark. For instance, a witch, placing her hand on a door-knocker into which the occupant of the house as previously had the foresight to cut a St. Andrew's Cross, would be rendered helpless and impotent. Tools and guns, so marked, never disappeared or behaved badly.

"In the Housman quilt a green leaf appliquéd close to the corner of each unit block becomes a group of four leaves when the blocks are set together; leaves cut in three lobes supply a pleasing border finish. this piece is owned and shown by courtesy of Mrs. Frank Carroll."

 I enjoyed working on this quilt for nearly two years! Now....to get it quilted!

The End We Start From by Megan Hunter

The End We Start From arrived at my door and before day was over I had read the book. It is a small volume, sparsely worded, but thick with meaning.

Megan Hunter's first novel can be read as an homage to motherhood. Pregnancy and a child's growth and the bonds of baby and child are vivid and visceral, honest and truthful. I knew this journey.

"Pregnancy was the great adventure." The End We Start From

It is a dystopian story of a climate catastrophe causing mass migration, refugees seeking safety. Soon after the birth of their baby, a family flees rising flood waters that are overwhelming London. The father takes them north. As panic and disorder follows, the family retreat further from civilization. They find shelter in a refugee camp. They become separated.

There is a layer of symbolic meaning. The title, The End We Start From, comes from lines in T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets. It is my favorite Eliot poem.

What we call the beginning is often the endAnd to make an end is to make a beginning.The end is where we start from.

The story is told in a few short sentences grouped together and separated by asterisks, as if we hear the mother's spoken thoughts. Interspersed are italicized sentences, seeming quotations, that relate snippets of creation stories. Many readers will recognize the Judeo-Christian references to the Creation of the World, Adam and Eve, and Noah and the Flood.

Universal archetypes appear: references to world Creation Myths of emergence from water or a world egg, the symbolism of womb and a child's birth, the creation of  land and mankind, myths of paradise.

The structure of the novel may confuse some readers who prefer a strong narrative or character-driven story. But, if they give the novel a chance, these readers can relate to the story of a mother's love and the joys and concerns of motherhood.

The need to leave home for safety is, sadly, also too universal. Just consider the recent hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires.

And, Hunter has another message for us: When our lives seem to be torn asunder, and we have lost everything, there comes a child taking its first step. We know what we have lost. This child only will know the world as it is. The child is a new beginning.

Life is not linear, going from worse to better. Life is nothing but endings and starting over. We lose a loved one, a career, a home, mobility.

A child is born. Flood waters arose and covered London. People flee and gather to survive. The child grows. The waters recede. The people return. Nothing is the same. Life goes on.

I truly believe that Earth is changing and humans will suffer. Local climate changes will mean some crops fail and other will thrive, new species will move in and others will move out. Humans will migrate. There will be social, political, and economic stress. There will be violence and disorder. There will be an ending to the time we have flourished in, this interglacial period. There will be a new beginning, one born in violence of the death of all we have known. Somewhere, a baby will take it's first step into it's mother's arms.

It is the end we start from.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley and an ARC through Goodreads giveaway in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.



The End We Start From
by Megan Hunter
Grove Atlantic/Grove Press
Pub Date: November 7, 2017
Hardcover $22.00
ISBN: 9780802126894


Hear T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets read by Alec Guinness at
https://soundcloud.com/tomrobinson/4quartets

Ten Months in Muskegon

August, 2009, we moved a half hour down the road. The church parsonage was in Norton Shores, south of Muskegon. The house was in a lovely neighborhood, on a cul de sac street and close to the mall, shopping, doctors, restaurants--and the Lake Michigan shore.

vintage photo from The Builders: The Identity and Witness of Central UMC Church of Musekgon, MI
by Thomas F. Begley

Gary's new church was struggling with changes. A cathedral built in the 1930s, membership had declined and they could no longer support their huge staff. Gary's job was to led them through the process of right-sizing and grieving, then he was to move on and let the incoming pastor minister without the negative associations Gary would be taking on. The appointment was to last up to two years.

Central UMC photo from Devoted Dreamers and Daring Doers by Rev. Dr. Lynn A. DeMoss

Frankly, we had stars in our eyes. The beautiful church with its full time music director, the stained glass, the orchestra, the professional choir, was stunning. We hoped that we would get along so well that Gary would not have to move after a few years!

Cover of Devoted Dreamers and Daring Doers

photo from Devoted Dreamers and Daring Doers

Our first Sunday at church they had a reception line. Every member filed by, introducing themselves. It was exhausting to stand there for all that time, one person after another coming up. And it was overwhelming. I am an introvert and like to meet people one on one or in small groups in informal settings. They had a nice tradition of donating pantry gifts to the incoming pastoral family.

The Pulpit, photo from Devoted Dreamers and Daring Doers

The neighborhood kids were all watching when we moved in and brought over a plate of freshly baked cookies! It was such a friendly street.

The ranch house was well maintained with three bedrooms, a kitchen opening to a dining area with a brick oven and fireplace wall, a huge living room with a fireplace, an office, and a full bath and a half-bath with a shower. The basement was partially finished. The backyard had a deck and included a wild, natural area. Pileated woodpeckers, deer, and turkey were seen on a daily basis!

Kitchen/dining area fireplace decked out for Christmas

Me, Easter 2010

The entire parsonage was painted and I got to chose the colors--one legacy of my suggestions concerning parsonages was to get away from the required 'earth tone' paint requirements. I knew we would be there a short time so I chose colors that worked with the lighting, woodwork, and flooring.

the dining area could fit my grandparent's set

Because the church was in downtown Muskegon, Gary had to commute to the office. He had many late afternoon and evening meetings. I was lonely.

I told Gary it was time to get another dog. We had agreed to get a puppy mill breeder rescue as a 'thank you' for the nearly 17 years of happiness Kili had given us. I found a dog in Stevensville who was in a foster home and contacted the rescue organization. I was told this dog was never expected to be adopted. The foster family said that a family returned her because she was terrified of men. Her early years in a Missouri puppy mill had left her unsocialized and damaged.

We visited the foster family. Our girl followed her pack at treat time, but hung in the back. A few days later the foster family brought her to us. We named her Suki, which means beloved, and were determined she would know come to understand she was loved.

Suki was shy and stayed in a corner

Suki had been kenneled but once in our house she ran behind the head of my bed. She claimed that small space for herself so we moved the bed away from the wall to give her space. She would follow me from room to room, finding a corner to hide in, her back pressed up against the wall. We were told that she liked her cheek rubbed. I would get on the floor and rub her cheek, talking to her, singing a song I made up for her.

Suki, Suki, Suki,
the sweetest dog I know.
Suki, Suki, Suki,
we do love you so.

Suki sitting for her cookie

Suki was unresponsive for days. But she was smart. In the evening I went into the living room with treats and she came running up to snatch one, running into another room to eat it, then running up again. I used treats to train all our dogs, and so I held it over her head and forced her to sit down to keep her eyes on it, saying 'sit' at the same time. Then I gave her the treat. The next time I did it, Suki understood and thereafter I would say 'sit' and she would sit and get her treat! I taught her to sit up, too, with one try. Another big break-through came a few weeks later when she learned to go up and down stairs. My sewing area was in the basement, and Suki one day went down the stairs to follow me. She was so pleased with herself, she went up and down the stairs over and over for several days.

A bad photo, I know, but this is Suki learning how to go down stairs

Gary always enjoyed walking our dogs. The morning after we got her he hooked her up and took her for a walk. Suki was terrified of the outdoors. She had been in a cage, with walls or fences, and would either cower down or run when outdoors. She took off  running and pulled the leash out of Gary's hand. He ran after her, knowing if she got away we would never be able to catch her again. Going down a small, steep, hill Gary tripped. He put his arm out to break his fall and felt pain in his shoulder. He got up and ran after Suki again, stepping on the end of the leash to stop her.

Gary's arm was badly hurt and I got him to medical care. The first doctor gave him bad advice, and when the pain continued he went to a specialist. He had torn three of his four rotor cuff ligaments and needed surgery to repair them. The doctor warned he might never regain full range of motion.

Gary's surgery meant a long recovery. Luckily, one of the chairs we had purchased before moving from Lansing, the chairs that were too big for the first Montague parsonage, was a recliner. Gary ended up sleeping in it for three weeks during recovery. Physical therapy worked miracles and he did regain full ROM in that shoulder.

Gary

In January we thought Suki might do better with another dog in the house. We went back to the rescue society and agreed to foster an incoming dog, another puppy mill rescue from Missouri. He was brought north by volunteers who each drove him a 'leg' of the trip. We picked him up in Indiana.

The volunteer brought him out of the cage to meet us. He looked in bad shape and smelled of urine, but wagged his tail at us. We got him home and immediately had to wash him down and wash out the kennel. We feed and watered him, and put him the kennel overnight. The next morning his bedding was soaked in urine again.

Kara

We named him Kara. He was friendly and seemed happy, but was weak. We took him to a vet right away. His legs were a mess, showing he had chewed them because of allergies. She told us his ears were short because he had lost the tips to frostbite. A broken leg had never been set. He had arthritis in his back. His ears were black from an ear infection. He also had high kidney vaues. The exam cost hundred of dollars and the rescue organization would not reimburse us. We were to make him comfortable, and get approval for any medical care. Phooey, we thought.

Suki and Kara's den behind the bed headboard

The second day found an amazed Suki staring at this strange dog cuddling up to her in her bed. Kara just moved in and befriended Suki. Over the next weeks Kara's health improved and he taught Suki how to be a dog. By spring, he had Suki playing tag in the yard, running after each other. They were happy as could be. Suki's tail was up for the first time, instead of being between her legs or straight down.

Kara (foreground) and Suki playing 

A healthy Kara was trouble with a capital T. He dug under the fence to get out of the yard. I ran after him and only caught him because his bad leg slowed him down and because he had to mark his territory. One day Gary saw Kara with all four paws hanging from the chain link fence, trying to climb over! On a rainy day when my brother was visiting, Kara managed to sneak out of the house. We drove around the neighborhood and asked people if they had seen our dog. One neighbor found him trotting along the main road, several blocks away. She opened her car door and he jumped in. Kara was very pleased with his jaunt.

Suki striking a pose

The neighbor was a widower and he loved Kara. He bought chicken treats to give Kara. Kara buried them all over the yard! A lady in North Carolina wanted to adopt Kara to replace a Shiba she had lost. I told her he was ill. She sent me a gift of money toward his medical costs! We have been in touch ever since.

I was intimidated by this church. I was never around people of status or wealth. Every Sunday after church during fellowship time a lady chastised me for not going table to table greeting all the parishioners. I told her I was the newbie, and they should be welcoming me for I was not a paid employee but a fellow lay member. 

Central UMC stained glass windows

In October, two months after Gary's appointment, at annual conference, a church leader told the D.S. that he did not want an interim pastor. Gary had been told his assignment was to provide healing and prepare for moving into the future, but this leader rejected that goal. The conference had never tried an interim pastorate before. We don't believe that the church was prepared.

Now, it is important to connect with important church leaders, and if a pastor does not do that there will be trouble. On our move-in day we had been invited to stay in this man's home. He and his wife were important in the community and well off. At dinner another clergy couple and our hosts talked about their world travels. It made me feel bad. I have spent three days in Mexico City and have seen a bit of Canada. That's the extend of my world travels. But these people did not notice their conversation did not include us, and that insensitivity made me unwilling to pursue a deeper relationship with these folk. I felt I was in another class and that we had little life experience in common.

Gary would not fight a powerful leader and agreed to move the next July 1. He was a lame duck pastor two months in. He did help the church restructure, lead Bible classes and all the other pastoral duties. Some parishioners encouraged his ministry and felt bad about what had happened. Later, I learned that this church leader had pushed his weight around in another church.

Gary had been teaching Disciple Bible Class for years. Participants read the entire Bible over a year.  I finally joined a class while in Montague, but we moved before it was over. I joined again while at Muskegon. I had to reread the Old Testament again! But did get to finish the course.

The church had a number of quilters and three ladies befriended me and invited me to their weekly quilt group. They took turns meeting in their homes, coming in the morning and staying for a light lunch. They were all talented and amazing artists. I was working on my quilt I Will Life My Voice Like a Trumpet, celebrating women abolitionists and Civil Rights workers. I designed the patterns and hand embroidered and hand quilted it.

I Will Lift My Voice Like a Trumpet by Nancy A. Bekofske

I also completed Ruby McKim's patterns Ships of the World, hand embroidered and hand quilted.

Ships of the World, a design by Ruby McKim
Hand embroidered and hand quilted by Nancy A. Bekofske

I gave this quilt to my son.

Detail of McKim's design

We were forty-five minutes from our son at university and saw him regularly over these months. We took rides to see the beaches and sights, and enjoyed eating at Toast N' Jam restaurant just a few minutes away. The Muskegon Museum of Art was a gem. We visited the USS Silversides sub and the USS Milwaukee Clipper and the LST 393 Veterans Museum. We liked the dentist so much we stayed with him even after moving. A repertoire movie theater was just blocks away.

Gary  Muskegon, MI

Chris, Muskegon, MI

The pastor who Gary had replaced was enjoying a more relaxed life in Montague. He pitied Gary! Several years into his ministry at Montague this pastor suffered a health crisis that left him bedridden and wheelchair bound. It was prescient that the parsonage was 100% handicapped accessible. The pastor had to take early retirement due to health. While his wife searched for housing to accommodate his needs, the Montague church allowed the family to stay in the parsonage. The new pastor stayed in a parishoner's rental cottage. God works in mysterious ways.

But of course, July 1, 2010, came and we had to move. We had hoped for a really nice church and home for our last appointment, expecting to be there six years until retirement.

The good news was the church was closer to Clawson and family. The downside was it was situated in an even smaller town than we had lived in before, in a very rural county. And at the meet-and-greet questions were asked that hinted at problems to come.

The BIG Book of One-Block Quilts

That Patchwork Place has gathered together some of their quilt designer's best patterns based on a single block. With 57 designs to choose from you will never run out of ideas!

Star designers include fan favorites Kim Diehl, Country Threads' Mary Etherington and Connie Tesene, Pat Sloan, Carrie Nelson, and Jo Morton. I love how patterns from various sources are brought together under a theme.

I recognize the middle star pattern, Magnitized, from Sue Pfau's One Bundle of Fun, one of my favorite quilts from her book on using precuts.

 With a change up of fabrics the quilts can become Modern or Traditional, colorful or elegant.

I love the very Modern take in the lower center quilt in the photo above. Would you believe that the block is Flowering Snowball and was sold through the Ladies Art Company a hundred years ago! Designer Amy Ellis makes it look very 2017!

Scrappy or with a controlled palette, one block quilts can become anything you want. Pat Sloan's pattern Fresh Air, on the lower left above, is sweet in peaches and greens. But imagine it in all one color story, or solid brights against a medium gray.

Above, lower left is and Hourglass block version called Welcome Wagon by Kim Diehl. It is a great pattern for small scraps. Below, upper left, is Argyle by Cindy Lammon. I love quilts patterns that look like plaids! This is a pattern that with the right color scheme could look very masculine.

Above, lower center row, is Log Cabin Chevron by Penny Barnes. What an amazing quilt with loads of action and such a modern look. The Log Cabin block is a very traditional pattern but this version has the squares in the corner of the block. The pattern uses easy strip piecing, using only three colors--navy, white and green. The 42 blocks create a quilt that is 66 1/2" by 77 1/2".

As always, the instructions are top-notch, with great hints and easy techniques to ensure success. What a great book to add to your library! Or your quilt guild library!

I received a free ebook from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The Big Book of One-Block Quilts: 57 Single-Block Sensations
That Patchwork Place
On Sale Date: November 21, 2017
Paperback $28.99

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

"It was a time after first discoveries but not last ones. It was wanting to know everything and wanting to know nothing. It was the new sweetness of men starting to talk as they must talk. It was the possible bitterness of revelation."--Something Wicked This Way Comes

For October I decided to read Something Wicked This Way Comes, my interest in revisiting Ray Bradbury piqued by my book club's reading Dandelion Wine in September.

When I was a teenager I read most of Bradbury, and passed my paperback books to my younger brother when he was in a reading slump.

But Bradbury is wasted on the young! The young may get the mystery and the fantasy, but some things require a view that only age can bring. An October view, as it were, from the perspective of a fifty-four-year-old father.

One October night a carnival comes to town and Will and Jim have snuck out of their houses to see the carnival being set up. They observe it's secrets and understand the evil going on, endangering their lives. The circus master Mr Dark, the Illustrated Man, searches for the boys. The boys have only Will's father, the library janitor, and their own ingenuity to protect them.

Wil and his father are unable to sleep, and their 3 am talk it is a most beautiful scene. Will asks his father about goodness and happiness. Although he only understands a small portion of his father's meaning, he has never heard his father talk so much and is transfixed. His father shares all he has learned about life.

"Too late, I found you can't wait to become perfect, you got to go out and fall down and get up with everybody else."  

"We are the creatures that know and know too much. That leaves us with such a burden again we have a choice, to laugh or cry. No other animal does either. We do both..."

"Really knowing is good. Not knowing, or refusing to know, is bad, or amoral, at least. you can't act if you don't know...we got to know all there is to know about those freaks and that man heading them up. We can't be good unless we know what bad is..."

The carnival, like life, has its enticements, the pink cotton candy stickiness; and it has frightening deformities and sinister side shows, the house of mirrors that confuses those who enter and reflects back what we do not want to see.

"...here comes the carnival, Death like a rattle in one hand, Life like candy in the other; shake on to scare you, offer one to make your mouth water."

In his search for the boys, Mr. Dark finds Will's dad in the library. He offers the gift of reversing time, and then he threatens Will's dad with death.  Looking death in the face, Will's father laughs and robs evil of its power.

"Evil has only the power that we give it. I give you nothing. I take back. Starve. Starve. Starve."

Death isn't important, it is what happened before death that counts, Will's father knows.

After vanquishing Mr. Dark and his cohorts, Will's dad knows it is just the beginning. "God knows what shape they'll come in next...We got to watch out the rest of our lives. The fights just begun."

The circus sideshow freaks, the witches and the living dead, are vanquished but other 'autumn people' will arise and we must always be on our guard, ready to stand up to them. Our weapon is laughter and joy.

*****

I wrote a poem long ago, but many years after reading Somethng Wicked This Way Comes, and yet I wonder what part of Bradbury's novel remained in my subconscious when I wrote it.

Circus Life
by Nancy A Bekofske

The thing about life is
it’s like a three ring circus.
I can almost smell the greasy odor of popcorn,
feel the sticky web of cotton candy
attaching itself to the skin,
see the wild beasts on stools and
the dangerous, captivating dares of the trainer--
hyperbolic symbol of the little daily risks we take
just going to work or school or to mail a letter.
The bareback riders in pink tights and tutus
recall the various temptations
flashing their thighs at us.
The sad clowns fall down over and over,
suffer the trials of water and fire, spurring laughter.
That's what life is all about:
trial, temptation, danger,
and the deep haw-haw of laughter.

In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.—Albert Camus

In the middle of a blizzard, Richard is moved to shed his twenty-five year long isolation and dares to love again, guided by Lucia, who has lost everything several times but still takes a chance on love.

What brings them together is Evelyn, an undocumented alien, the loving caretaker of a boy with Cerebral Palsy whose parents' toxic relationship and troubled lives has left her knowing more than is safe for her to know.

The trio resolve to undertake a dangerous mission to protect Evelyn, a journey into a silent landscape of deep snow and journeys to their pasts.

Isabel Allende's In the Midst of Winter is a story of rebirth, forgiveness, and love. The character's back stories take up the most space, told piecemeal in long chapters between the action.

Lucia is an immigrant, a professor, who escaped Chile when her brother's involvement with a gang led to his death and made her life unsafe. Lucia is a character women will love. Evelyn is an illegal alien from Guatemala who also took the dangerous journey to America to save her life. Both women understand what it is like for a loved one to simply disappear.

Richard is Lucia's boss at New York University and had invited her to be a visiting professor. He rents Lucia a basement room. He has lived in a winter world ever since the loss of his baby to SIDS left his wife severely depressed. Richard drank and partied his sorrows away. A tragic accident took their remaining child's life, and later he lost his wife.

I felt sympathy for the characters and appreciated Allende addressing the violence that causes most of today's immigration to America. She demonstrates the horrors that force people to leave their homeland and family and give a face to illegal immigrants. Allende's passion for the plight of women and children is evident throughout the novel.

The novel shows that in the midst of great disappointment and pain people can find new life, that the possibility of love can come unexpectedly. The love story between Richard and Lucia is very beautiful.

I was not a fan of how the story was presented. The characters tell their stories to each other, but the authorial voice is telling the reader, not the characters.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

In the Midst of Winter
Isabel Allende
Atria Books
ISBN 9781501178139


Read an excerpt of the novel at
https://www.isabelallende.com/en/book/winter/excerpt

Read about The Isabelle Allende Foundation which supports MILES Chile’s efforts in human rights,  promoting respect for people independent of race, creed, ethnicity, political ideology, gender, ability, sexual orientation and age:
https://isabelallende.org

Dickens and Christmas

Charles Dickens is the great great great grandfather of author Lucinda Hawksley. I discovered Hawksley on social media and learned about her newest book Dickens and Christmas. I knew I had to read it!

A Christmas Carol has been a favorite story since Third Grade when I was Martha in a elementary school play. I memorized all the lines by heart watching rehearsals.

Our school play of A Christmas Carol, 1962

Growing up I watched every movie version every year. Later my husband and I read the story out loud and together watched our favorite movie versions. (I even wrote a paper about A Christmas Carol for my Studies in the Victorican Age course at university!)

Dickens and Christmas is a biographical history of Christmas in Dickens's personal and professional life, and a social history of the celebration's evolution in England in the Victorian Age. The celebration underwent a huge transformation to become the holiday we know today. We learn about the Twelfth Night celebration of Dickens's youth and the joyful celebrations he shared with his family.

Hawksley draws from writings by family members, letters, and the Christmas texts to create a vivid portrait of Dickens as family , writer, and social reformer.

Few readers today know about Dickens's other best-selling Christmas stories. They were so popular that he was required to write a new one every year, which became a source of great stress, requiring six months work while also writing his novels. The early novellas became short stories published in his magazines, Household Words and All the Year Round.

One of the aspects of the Christmas stories I love best of all is Dickens's desire to improve social conditions for the poor and most vulnerable in society. Dickens was a 'resistance' writer of his time, intending to bring awareness and sow seeds for legal and social change. I

Because of Dickens's Christmas writings, the season has become one of charity and good will.

God bless us, every one!

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Dickens and Christmas
by Lucinda Hawksley
Pen & Sword
Publication Date: October 30, 2017
ISBN:  9781526712264
PRICE: £19.99 (GBP)

Charles Dickens quilt by Nancy A. Bekofske

Charles Dickens quilt by Nancy A. Bekofske
In the style of  19th c British quilts, with embroidered images from his novels

Read about my Charles Dickens quilt at
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2015/12/four-years-with-charles-dickens.html

Read more about Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol at
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-community-and-changed-lives.html

Read about Karen Kenyon's book Charles Dickens:Compassion and Contradiction at
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2017/06/resistence-writer-charles-dickens.html