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

Jennifer Chiaverini (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 18, 2005

A New York Times Bestselling Author

History is thick with secrets in the seventh book in the beloved Elm Creek Quilts series. Set in Creek's Crossing, Pennsylvania, in the years leading up to the Civil War, The Sugar Camp Quilt blends danger, moral courage, romance and hope into a novel of antebellum America.

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Imparts a healthy dollop of history in a folksy style, while raising moral questions in a suspenseful narrative."
-- Publishers Weekly (Publisher's Weekly )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 478 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press (April 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786274956
• ISBN-13: 978-0786274956
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,422,912 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.