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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ran away with my time, April 17, 2002
This was truly a book that I could not put down. It is the first of the Elm Creek books that I read and now I have purchased the rest to enjoy. The flow of the story was wonderful. And I easily moved between the days of Gerda and the modern day Sylvia. It is at once a mystery and a tale of adventure and romance. Through Ms. Chiaverini's skillful writing, we feel equally at home in either the 19th or 21th centuries. So skillful and artistic are her desceiptions, that we, the readers are front and center with our two leading ladies at all times. The cast of extras, from Hans and Andrew to Dorothea and Grace, all add to the rich tapestry that makes up this story. Whether you are a quilter or not, this book puts us in touch with the past and reminds us to look back and see the fiber from which we are all made. If you are not a quilter, it certainly is an inspiration to try it out as a hobby We are never quite sure of the answer to the questions in Sylvia's mind, but that does not matter. What we do know however, is that in her past were brave and daring people who stood for what was right in a time when so much was wrong.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Yet of the Series!, May 20, 2002
This is by far the best of the series! Each story in the Quilt series is better than the one before. This is a completely satisfying story: part mystery, part history lesson, and part geneology study. After a speaking engagement, Sylvia is approached by one of the attendees. Margaret Alden has an old family quilt that has always been called The Elm Creek quilt, and she wants to share her information with Sylvia. This sparks Sylvia's curiosity, and she sets out to find the old quilts her Aunt Lucinda used to tell her about, quilts that were used as signals on the Underground Railroad. What Sylvia finds is so much more. She finds a journal written by Gerda, Hans' sister, the founders of the Bergstrom legacy. In the memoir, Sylvia finds more questions than answers. In the journal, Gerda reveals family secrets, and she introduces Sylvia to someone she never knew existed: a pregnant runaway named Joanna, who the Bergstroms hide from slave catchers and who is almost their undoing. Sylvia is confronted with the uncertainty of her own family history, and is left with a question that is never answered by Gerda's journal. With the help of her fellow Elm Creek Quilters, as well as descendants of Gerda's closest friends, Sylvia is able to face these uncertainties and reaffirm her moral center.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stitching Together a Family's History, April 10, 2002
Jennifer Chiaverini has written the best yet in her now four-part Elm Creek Quilts novel. Sylvia Bergstrom and her friends have experienced the astounding growth of their recently-founded quilter's retreat at beautiful Elm Creek Manor. Sylvia is thrown for a loop, however, when Margaret Alden, a Southern woman, shows her a quilt she believes was made by one of her ancestors, or one of their slaves, in a pattern called Elm Creek. The quilt unmistakeably details her manor, but it throws her understanding of her family history into turmoil. Sylvia had always been lead to believe that the Bergstrom family were participants in the underground railroad - could they really have been slave owners? If not, how could a quilt that so clearly resembles her home have come to be part of the family history of a slaveowning family? Sylvia decides to look for some family quilts of her own, to help her piece together the mystery. She finds a trunk in her attic filled with what are precious treasures to her - a birds of the air quilt, and a log cabin quilt with a black center square. Family lore had always held that a log cabin with a black center square was a signal to fugitive slaves that they could find safe respite in a home. To Sylvia's surprise, wrapped in the quilts was a diary, that of Gerda Bergstrom, the sister to Hans and Anneke Bergstrom, the founders of the Bergstrom empire. Gerda's diary details her family history -- throwing some shocking loops to Sylvia along the way. This is a beautifully written book, and very entertaining. The book shows how women's work, even during the Civil War era, was not confined exclusively to the domestic sphere, and how women were able to create family treasures that endured. The Runaway Quilt, with its novelization of Civil War history, is likely to interest a far broader audience than the earlier Elm Creek Quilts novel, while keeping Chiaverini's fans hoping that the series will continue.
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