The Sugar Camp Quilt (Elm Creek Quilts Series #7) [Hardcover]

Jennifer Chiaverini (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2005

A week after Uncle Jacob's death, Abel Wright came to pay his respects. Dorothea Granger took him to the grave and stood some distance away while he bowed his head in silent prayer. Then he looked up and said, "I have something to tell you and your folks."

History is thick with secrets in The Sugar Camp Quilt, seventh in the beloved Elm Creek Quilts series from bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini. Set in Creek's Crossing, Pennsylvania, in the years leading up to the Civil War, the story begins with friends and neighbors taking sides in the abolitionist debate, and as events unfold, an ex-traordinary young heroine passes from innocence to wisdom against the harrowing backdrop of the American struggle over slavery.

A dutiful daughter and niece, Dorothea Granger finds her dreams of furthering her education thwarted by the needs of home. A gifted quilter, she tragically loses her hope chest in a flood. A superior student, she is promoted from pupil to teacher -- only to lose her position to the privileged son of a town benefactor. But the ultimate test of her courage and convictions comes with the death of her stern uncle Jacob, who inexplicably had asked Dorothea to stitch him a quilt with four unusual patterns of his own design. After he meets with a violent end, Dorothea discovers that the quilt contains hidden clues to guide runaway slaves along the Underground Railroad. Emboldened by the revelations about her uncle's bravery, Dorothea resolves to continue his dangerous work. Armed with the Sugar Camp Quilt and its mysterious symbols, she must evade slavecatchers and outwit unscrupulous neighbors, embarking upon a heroic journey that allows her to discover her own courage and resourcefulness -- unsuspected qualities that may win her the heart of the best man she has ever known.

Told with Jennifer Chiaverini's trademark historical suspense, The Sugar Camp Quilt blends danger, moral courage, romance, and hope into a novel of antebellum America whose lessons resonate with timeless honesty.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In the seventh entry in the Elm Creek Quilt series, Chiaverini returns to Creek's Crossing, Pennsylvania, in the period before the Civil War, when quilts were used as markers along the Underground Railroad. Nineteen-year-old Dorothea Granger, dutiful daughter and niece, teaches at the local school, the closest she can come to fulfilling her dreams of education and career. Her younger brother, Jonathan, is studying medicine in Boston and is seen as the likely heir to the farm where her family lives under the scrutiny of cantankerous Uncle Jacob. When her uncle asks Dorothea to make him a quilt with very specific instructions, she obeys but is intrigued and annoyed at the request, as it takes her away from the task of quilting to raise funds to build a library and wondering about the intentions of a potential suitor and a mysterious newcomer. The Granger family and their small town become increasingly torn by encroaching efforts to round up or to assist runaway slaves. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Imparts a healthy dollop of history in a folksy style, while raising moral questions in a suspenseful narrative."

-- Publishers Weekly

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 306 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st edition (March 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743260171
• ISBN-13: 978-0743260176
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #768,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jennifer Chiaverini lives with her husband and two sons in Madison, Wisconsin. In addition to the sixteen volumes in the Elm Creek Quilts series and four books of quilt patterns inspired by the novels, she designs the Elm Creek Quilts fabric line from Red Rooster Fabrics. For more information about Jennifer, please visit her website at www.elmcreek.net .

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Underground Railroad Mystery, March 15, 2005

By 

Sharon Knutson "chinamomma" (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sugar Camp Quilt (Elm Creek Quilts Series #7) (Hardcover)

The Sugar Camp Quilt is the tale of Dorthea Granger, who during the period of unrest shortly before the civil war, must grow up quickly in the face of grave danger.

Her family lost their own farm to a flood and now lives under the unforgiving roof of her Uncle Jacob. He is a harsh, humourless, and unforgiving man who lost his beloved wife and twin sons to illness years before. This results in the farm potentially being willed upon Uncle Jacob's death, to Dorethea's brother who is back east studying medicine. So her parents work from sun up to sun down for Uncle Jacob, uncomplaining at his constant critiscim.

Uncle Jacob allows no one to get close to him, and bullies his niece into creating a quilt for him with several unusual blocks of his own design....it is only after his sudden death that Dorethea and her family discover the true meaning of the Sugar Camp Quilt. It throws her family into danger and mystery while at the same time showing a new side to Uncle Jacob that they never knew about.

The Sugar Camp Quilt book is a wonderful story, at first I missed the familiar characters from the previous Elm Creek Quilt books, but Dorthea's story was strong enough to keep me engrossed and I finished the book quickly. I gave it four stars only because it did not have the familiar characters in it, otherwise it would have been a 5 star review.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Prequel to "The Runaway Quilt", March 23, 2005

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sugar Camp Quilt (Elm Creek Quilts Series #7) (Hardcover)

This book is set in the years preceding the Civil War, when feelings about slavery are running high. The heroine is Dorothea Granger who lives with her parents on her uncle's farm. Her father's farm was swept away in a flood and Uncle Jacob took in his sister and her family, when they had nowhere else to turn. Jacob is a harsh man and Dorothea's family lives uneasily under his strict rules, hoping that someday the farm will be left to her brother Jonathon, who is studying to be a doctor. Dorothea is not married, but one of the young men in the area shows a lot of interest in her. Their relationship is marred by the fact that their families stand on opposite sides of the Abolition question. The Grangers are steadfastly in favor of Abolition and they befriend their black neighbors, some of whom are former slaves. As the book continues, the tensions rise, until people's lives are put in jeopardy. As usual, author Chiaverini spins an interesting story with well-drawn characters and a plot in which a quilt plays a major part.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, July 28, 2005

By 

Laura Johnson "Quilting Reader" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sugar Camp Quilt (Elm Creek Quilts Series #7) (Hardcover)

I was looking forward to reading this new book in the Elm Creek series. I was disappointed. The other Elm Creek books have been hard to put down once I started reading. I didn't have that problem reading The Sugar Camp Quilt. You knew what was going to happen between Dorthea and Thomas when they first met. I love historical novels but this one was boring. I hope Ms. Chiaverini's next book is more like her other books, The Quilter's Legacy and The Runaway Quilt.