From her nursing home, a grandmother teaches her two granddaughters to quilt under the compassionate and watchful eye of their narrating mother. Grama's simple lessons become something greater and more profound to these four women, stitching together the fabric of their lives.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
A lecturer on women and creativity, Webb self-published her very genuine, warmly written novel a few years ago. According to the press release, the self-published book sold 25,000 copies and also became a best-seller in Japan. A paradigm for living, Webb's narrative takes the form of quilting instructions passed down from grandmother to granddaughters over the course of a year. Each of the title's 12 golden threads embodies a "metaphor for what we need to do in life," with the mother of the young women providing narration and an ongoing dialogue that enhances Grama's lessons. As the granddaughters progress with work on their quilts, Webb portrays the close and gratifying relationship existing between three generations of women. In what is essentially a series of homilies, the positive effects of valuing such things as commitment, goals, responsibility, and cooperation are proclaimed throughout. Alice Joyce
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
A How To Make an American Quilt wannabe that has already sold 25,000 copies in a self-published (1992) edition. Unlike bestselling Whitney Otto, however, motivational speaker and first- novelist Webb abandons any pretense of a story and allows her ``lessons'' to overtake--utterly--the barely breathing narrative. Bank employee Jennifer, a recent college graduate, and serious-minded high-school student Susan are sisters, but that's all we learn about them, since they're used only as vehicles to promote their mother's and their paternal grandmother's purported words of wisdom. On one of their monthly visits to Grama, the sisters decide to undertake a project: They will each, with Grama's expert guidance, design and make a quilt of their own in a year's time. Each month, the girls and their advice-spouting (``Cooperation is always a better way''), monologue-spewing psychologist mother drive to the seniors' complex in Clareville, where Grama has lived and quilted for 20 years. Over the 12 months before the old woman, predictably, passes on--leaving her two granddaughters with finished quilts and a lifetime of jargony catch phrases for success (``Persevere Through the Tough Times,'' etc.)- -Jennifer and Susan trace, cut, and sew with all the spark and personality of two automatons with failing batteries. As if to hammer home the point that women pass on women's wisdom to women, the men in these women's lives are kept conveniently out of the picture; brother Robbie's at college out west, and father Jack (along with his father) died years before. Most telling, perhaps, when Grama worries that she may sound like a ``Grand Old Guru,'' you find yourself nodding in consent. The literary equivalent of a dose of castor oil, this plodding self-helper reads more like a bad sermon than real fiction. (Literary Guild alternate selection; $200,000 ad/promo; author tour; TV satellite tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
lessons for success through the creation of quilts,
By A Customer
This review is from: Twelve Golden Threads: A Novel of Life Lessons from Grama's Quilt (Paperback)
This book is fantastic! I borrowed it from the library and have bought several to give as gifts. It is the story of a grandmother who is teaching her granddaughters the skills needed to create a quilt over a one year period. The sisters are very different and each one learns the TWELVE GOLDEN THREADS for successful living step by step as they create their own special quilts. It is a book that I want to share with my high school students because of the wonderful way that the two purposes of this book - quilt making and steps for successful living - are woven together into a story of love and caring. Highly recommended!!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Project Plan for Living,
By A Customer
This review is from: Twelve Golden Threads: A Novel of Life Lessons from Grama's Quilt (Paperback)
I have read this book three times and love it. It's a story that wraps you in the life of the characters and confirms life values and habits as you read. You will find yourself wanting to read this story over and over.I'm currently looking for the availability of a copy to give as a gift. It may also make a special gift for someone in your life that you would like to inspire.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
