Stitch of Courage: A Woman's Fight for Freedom (Book 3 in the Trail of Thread book series) (Trail of Thread Series) [Paperback]

Linda K. Hubalek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1996 | Series: Trail of Thread Series

Feel the uncertainty, doubt, and danger faced by the pioneer women of Kansas as they defend their homes and pray for their men during the Civil War.
We think the Civil War took place in the South, but the plains state endured their share of battles and tragedy. Not only did Kansas and Missouri experience a resurgence in the terrorist raids that had plagued them in the years before the war, but the Confederate Army tried several times to sweep across the Great Plains and capture the West.
Stitch of Courage, the third book in the Trail of Thread series, tells the story of the orphaned Maggie Kennedy, who followed her brothers to Kansas in the late 1850s. The niece of Margaret Ralston Kennedy, the main character in Hubalek s Thimble of Soil book, Maggie married the son of Deborah Pieratt, whose story was told in the Hubalek s Trial of Thread book.
In letters to her sister in Ohio, Maggie describes how the women of Kansas faced the demons of the Civil War, fighting bravely to protect their homes and families while never knowing from one day to the next whether their men were alive or dead on the faraway battlefield.
Twelve quilt patterns are stitched into this story.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Linda Hubalek has created an impressive three volume trilogy of historic fiction spanning the years 1854 through 1865. Trail of Thread: A Woman's Westward Journey is the life of Deborah Pieratt as she treks to the new Territory of Kansas. Through her letters we hear stories of humor and despair, along with trail-side camping, cooking and quilting. Readers will feel as if they pulled up stakes and traveled along with Deborah themselves. Thimble of Soil: A Woman's Quest for Land tells how the widow Margaret Ralston Kennedy travels with eight of her thirteen children from Ohio to the territory of Kansas in 1855. Then, while her sons are away fighting to free the Kansas territory from Missouri's pro-slavery forces, Margaret valiantly defends the homestead itself and holds the families together through the savage years of "Bleeding Kansas". Stitch of Courage: A Woman's fight for Freedom tells of the orphaned Maggie Kennedy, niece of Margaret and, later, wife of Deborah Pieratt's son. Maggie describes how the women of the new State of Kansas faced the horrors of the Civil War. Women alone banding together to protect their homes and children, never knowing from one day to the next whether their husbands and sons are alive or dead on some far lonely battlefield. Linda Hubalek has paid great attention to historical detail while her gifts as a storytelling draw the reader into the lives and events of her heroines with a charismatic intensity that is rarely equaled and never surpassed. This is historical fiction at its finest as both history and as narrative fiction. Although each book can be obtained separately, the recommendation is for acquiring the entire trilogy. --Midwest Book Review

About the Author

In sixth grade we had to write a paper on what we wanted to do when we grew up. My mom had kept it and I found this paper while cleaning through my closet during my college days. According to my dreams back then, I wanted to be a farmer, but my last line was -but alas, girls can't be farmers. Well, I got my Bachelors Degree in Agriculture/Horticulture from Kansas State University, did agronomy research for years before starting a wholesale horticulture business. My company, Prairie Flower Creations, grew and dried flowers, ornamental corn, and mini pumpkins for the florist trade. In 1990 I was featured in Country Woman Magazine, but at the same time, my husband's job was transferred to California. I sold my business and tried to cope, growing flowers and pumpkins in five-gallon buckets on our cement lawn. I started writing about the family and farmland I was homesick for and started a new career, writing about women ancestors who had moved to the new state of Kansas and farmed its land. We eventually moved back to Kansas, bought land next to my family, raised buffalo, and I have a garden again. So not only have I fulfilled my dream to be a farmer, I've written about past and present women that have also tilled the prairie land of Kansas. Please read and enjoy my book series which are about the family that homestead our family farm, and my ancestors that homesteaded in Kansas in the 1800s. Considered historical fiction, these quality paperback books are age appropriate for everyone from age 9 to 99. Book, quilt, and Scandinavian gift shops sell them (or ask your local store to stock them for you) and schools use them in class studies to portray early pioneer and Kansas history. My writing time most days is spent on the computer with marketing my businesses, and working on the next book series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: Butterfield Books (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886652082
• ISBN-13: 978-1886652088
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #934,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Linda Hubalek majored in agriculture in college, and featured in Country Woman Magazine about her wildflower business when her husband's job transferred them to California. She then started writing about the Kanas prairie she was homesick for and started her writing career.

Linda's first book, BUTTER IN THE WELL, written as diary entries, is about the Swedish immigrant that homesteaded her family farm. Readers wanted to know what happened to the family, so she continued the story with PRÄRIEBLOMMAN, EGG GRAVY (a pioneer cookbook), and LOOKING BACK.

Her next historical fiction series features pioneer women as they experience the Civil War firsthand. TRAIL OF THREAD, THIMBLE OF SOIL, and STITCH OF COURAGE, written in the form of letters, has a quilt theme because of a quilt handed down in Linda Hubalek's family.

PLANTING DREAMS, CULTIVATING HOPE, and HARVESTING FAITH tells her ancestor's story that changed their family history forever when they homesteaded on the unforgiving Kansas prairie.

Linda Hubalek and her husband eventually moved back home to Kansas, and she continues to research and write about pioneer women that made Kansas their home. The KANSAS QUILTER will be her next book series.
www.LindaHubalek.com
www.Facebook.com/lindahubalekbooks

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exceptionally interesting, informative and funny., August 25, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Fort Worth, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stitch of Courage: A Woman's Fight for Freedom (Book 3 in the Trail of Thread book series) (Trail of Thread Series) (Paperback)

This book is a MUST read for anyone interested in the early history of the American West settlement. The book series are very well written, touching and an interesting collection real life adventures.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good historical fiction for Civil War women, March 16, 2011

By 

Love Historical Fiction (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stitch of Courage (Trail of Thread Series) (Kindle Edition)

Good writing, pulling the reader into the story through letters written to her sister. Can't imagine the stress the Civil War must have caused women, while their men were off fighting who knows where.

Liked all three books in the Trail of Thread series, and I want to read more books by the author Linda Hubalek.

Trail of Thread (Trail of Thread Series)

Thimble of Soil (Trail of Thread series)