Maybelle in Stitches Book Review

Quilts of Love Series

SUMMARY:  A patchwork quilt holds together two hearts separated by miles of ocean and the Second World War.

     Maybelle can't sew.  But when she finds an unfinished quilt in her mother's closet, she gets the crazy idea to complete it.  At first, it's just a way to fill the lonely nights while her husband, Holden Kazinski, is away fighting in World War II.

     Yet when Maybelle discovers that the quilt is made from scraps of material that can be traced back through her family heritage, the project is suddenly much more important.  Then word comes that Holden is missing in action, and with little else to do, Maybelle clings to the quilt as much as to the hope that her husband is still alive.  As neighborhood friends gather around Maybelle to help her through the unknown days and nights ahead, it is the quilt that becomes a symbol of her unflagging belief that Holden will return to her, to their home, and to their quilt-covered bed.

REVIEW:  Maybelle is a beacon of hope of all of us women who are not the domestic type.  She can't cook, sew or keep a house but she loves working at the shipyard as a welder, helping to build ships in hopes one will bring her husband home soon.  Her attempt at making a dress in high school was a complete disaster (sounds so much like mine!).  I like how she still gets in there and tries (with MASSIVE amounts of encouragement and help from her friends) to make something for her husband to have when he returns from the war.  When she gets bad news after bad news, she doesn't go hide and cry but stands firm in her faith that God will get her through.  

     This book shows that the women at home did not sit around waiting for their men to get home from war.  They got to work, inside and outside the home, making ships and planes, living very frugally, to make sure their boys had whatever they needed.  The women banded together to provide support and encouragement, along with whatever else was needed, in tough times.

     One of the endearing parts was, after Maybelle and her friends started working on the quilt, the other girls also provided cloth squares from items that meant something special to them.  It represented all the hopes, dreams and memories of friends and family.

     This was an enjoyable book.

This book was provided by Litfuse Publicity Group for review without compensation.

 

Joyce Magnin is the author of several books, including The Prayers of Agnes Sparrow, named one of the "Top 5 Best Christian Fiction Books of 2009" by Library Journal.  She has three children and one grandson and is mom to a neurotic parakeet.