Customer Reviews

Wedding Ring (Shenandoah Album)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

WEDDING RING by Emilie Richards

Here's a book I would recommend to women who love to read about southern traditions and families. WEDDING RING by Emilie Richards takes place in the Shenandoah Valley --- Toms Brook, Virginia --- and centers on three generations of women that are learning to deal with each other and come to terms with a death in the family that occurred three years ago. Tessa McCrae had lost her only child Kayley in a car accident, and is still not able to deal with the emotions from this tragedy. She blames herself, and has shut out her husband to the point that she's driving him away, using the excuse of helping out with her grandmother to stay away from Mack during this particular summer. In the mean time, her mother Nancy has asked Tessa to help her with cleaning up Grandmother Helen's home in Toms Brook, and to their dismay they find that it's a mess. The term "pack rat" doesn't even describe the condition of this house.

The many different quilts that are found in the house help bring the bickering women together. Helen and Nancy open up their souls and tell the stories of their childhoods and early years of marriage with the discovery of each quilt. It's a side that Tessa has never seen of each woman and it changes her perspective of both of them.

The Wedding Ring quilt is one that helps unite the three women, and there is a history behind it. Tessa learns how the quilt was created, through the stories told by both Nancy and Helen, and it is a touching story. While the purpose of the title is not apparent from the start, by the end of the book the reader will understand how the Wedding Ring quilt is central to the story. The first of a trilogy of books called the Shenandoah Album trilogy, based on these traditional quilts, I found WEDDING RING a very enjoyable read. It's a type of book that will be enjoyed by women who like to read about family and traditions, in particular those families deeply rooted in the south.

I'll be honest - I only bought this book because I was at a quilt show and I could get a free quilting instruction book if I bought this book and another instruction book. The author was signing books and there was a lull so I chatted with her briefly about the emotional response I'd had to some of the quilts at the show. I bought my books, had them signed, thanked her, and went home. I expected a pleasant little read, a nice way to pass some time.

Then I read the book.

"Wow" does not do it justice. Boiled down into the simplest terms, the book is about family. A mother, daughter and granddaughter have the opportunity to learn about each other as people, rather than just "mother", "daughter", etc. Quilts are a large part of the story but they only add to it for those of us who are interested in quilting. They do not detract from the story for non-quilters.

This is a very emotional book - I read it in one sitting, until 1:00 in the morning. I cried through much of it. The next morning I woke up with swollen eyes, and passed the book on to my mother. I've already purchased the next book in the series, and I can't wait for it to arrive.

WEDDING RING by Emilie Richards is a story that is in essence a tribute to the strength of women, the importance of family and the desire to keep family traditions. The title refers to the name of one of the many quilts that have been created by Helen Henry, the matriarch of a family that is slowly drifting apart due to generation gaps and misunderstandings among the three women.

But the main reason for the family problems could be attributed to the untimely death of the youngest member of the family, a death that had occurred three years earlier. Tessa MacCrae lost her only child Kayley to a drunk driver three years ago. Kayley was only five. Not only has the death put a strain on her marriage, it has also forced Tessa to shut down her emotions completely, not allowing anyone to see that she is hurt by the death of her daughter. She tries her best to erase any evidence that her daughter had existed, to the dismay of everyone around her.

As the novel opens, Tessa and her mother Nancy are trying to gain entry into Helen's home in Toms Brook, Virginia, in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. And it is not a pretty sight. It is hot and humid outside, and Helen is doing her best to deter her daughter and granddaughter from coming in the house. She throws things out her window, such as pieces of clothing, in the hopes that she can scare her family away. Helen fears they are coming to take her away, and she refuses to leave her family home.

What Tessa finds, and Nancy has already feared, is that Helen is now living the life of a pack rat, and it is a classic case. There is no room in the house for anyone to walk, let alone live. It is literally a fire hazard. Rodents and insects live with Helen. Stacks of newspapers and boxes and all sorts of other things fill each room from floor to ceiling, and it's now up to Nancy and Tessa to clean the place up and determine whether Helen can live on her own. Nancy and Tessa's mission is to spend the summer months with Helen, while helping to clean up the house and decide at the end of the summer whether to let Helen stay on her own or move her to a home.

While the three women are living together and getting the house slowly back into shape, Tessa finds quilts that were stored away. She never had an interest in the quilts, but Nancy and Helen know that there is a story behind each one. As they look at each quilt, the stories of their past come rushing out. Helen bares her soul (an act that this crotchety old woman has never done before) and tells the other two women the story of her childhood, the poverty that was her life, and the love of her life that was her husband, Fate Henry. In turn, Nancy talks about her childhood, her hatred of being poor and wishing she could be swept away by a wealthy gentleman, which indeed did happen, by her husband Billy. Her story, like her mother's, was not a fairy tale but one of struggle and hardship. Through these stories, each woman gains an understanding of her own mother, bringing the three of them closer together.

While Tessa learns the story of her mother and grandmother, she herself must deal with her own tragedy and repair the marriage that she is about to lose. When her husband Mack informs her that the man who killed their daughter, Robert Owens, has been let out of jail early for good behavior, Tessa goes into a rage and decides to take the law into her own hands. This behavior helps to drive the two even further apart, as their marriage is already on shaky ground. Mack's involvement with a support group has introduced to him a younger woman who he has discovered feelings for, and Tessa finds herself pushing away from Mack, no matter how much he begs her to stay.

WEDDING RING is the first of a trilogy of books based on life in the poverty-stricken Shenandoah Valley. The Shenandoah Album trilogy is off to a great start with this novel, filled with richly drawn characters and stories that will warm the heart. If this book is any indication, the next two installments will be winners. WEDDING RING comes highly recommended.

--- Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton

This is the first of Ms Richards's books I have read. I am certainly going to read more.
Her characterization and plotting are superb. She uses believable dialogue, thoughts and humor as well as understanding the interactions of men and women and women and women together.
I especially enjoyed the element of quilts and quilting tying the storyline together. Her writing style is mature and educated without being overblown or full of itself. Thank you Emilie!

This is definitely one of my favorite reads this summer! I have read just about all of Richards' books and was thrilled to find this one in my collection!

This is a book about three different women ~~ who happened to be related to each other. There is Tessa, who is suffering from her daughter's death three years prior, Nancy, Tessa's mom, who has her own regrets and secrets and Helen, Nancy's mom and Tessa's grandma, who is filled with her own regrets over life. At the beginning of the book, the three come together to clean up the old farm house that has belonged in Helen's family for years ~~ disgruntled and unhappy with one another and with being there. As the book progresses, each of the women come to face to face with their own demons and broken dreams ~~ and finding solace with one another as they never have before. They share their dreams and stories over a quilt that Helen had started to make for her wedding bed, only to end up on Tessa's bed in childhood after Nancy finished it.

If you're a mother, grandmother, daughter ~~ this book will speak to your heart like very few books do! The quilts in this book are so wonderfully described and your fingers ache to make quilts of your own. It is an appealing book that speaks of relationships among women that only women can understand. This is a book of broken hearts and dreams and finding the joy that only those who have suffered can understand. It's a wonderful inspiring little book ~~ and it reminds me why I really enjoy reading Emilie Richards' books. She's an author that knows how to reach her reader's heart.

7-14-05

Thirty-seven years old Tessa MacRae and her sixty-year-old mom Nancy Whitlock are worried about the latter's octogenarian mother Helen, who has neglected her Tom Brooks, Virginia house. The home is dangerously cluttered with junk as Nancy realizes she has not been allowed inside since her five-year-old granddaughter was killed by a drunk driver three years ago, the pivotal moment that left three surviving generations shattered.

Tessa's husband Mack attends Compassionate Friends to help him cope with his grief. Tessa is an active member of MADD, but has done nothing to truly deal with her loss of their daughter. Mack feels cut off from his wife who he loves dearly, but needs love and is considering an affair.

Nancy's husband Billy visits, but she worries that though they have been married for decades he will see her farm roots and leave her. Nancy loves Billy, but feels a need to defend her birth home and her mom before going upstairs to cry. Billy leaves without saying goodbye.

As the three women clean out the house over the summer and allow a pregnant teen to join them, will they find solace in their memories or continue the spin into the abyss?

The entire cast is as powerful as they come as every key member (even Helen's long deceased husband) is incredibly developed. The relationships between the characters are fantastic because even the negativity seems genuine. The use of quilting enables the past to surface interwoven with the current woes. Though the amount of angst (each one of the three lead females deals with enough problems to cover a book by herself) overwhelms, Emilie Richards paints a wonderfully insightful family drama.

Harriet Klausner

WEDDING RING is the first book in the Shenandoah Album series. It's also the first book that I've read by Emilie Richards. Since I don't live too far from the Shenandoah Valley, I was attracted to this story because it features an area that is familiar to me. I wasn't disappointed; this is a well-written and captivating story.

The book centers on three women. Tessa who is thirty-seven, her mother Nancy and her grandmother, Helen. The women don't really seem to care much about each other and have little in common. Helen lives alone in Tom's Brook and when Nancy, who lives in Richmond is called by neighbors and told that her mother needs help, she and Tessa feel the obligation to visit and possibly make arrangements to put Helen in a home for seniors. They knew that Helen was a saver, but what they find is a house stuffed to the gills with magazines, unread newspapers, empty bottles, boxes of old paperwork and items that nobody could possible want. Helen who had been a superb housekeeper, is now living in a big mess, but insists that she needs it all. They also find dozens and dozens of beautiful quilts that Helen had been making for years.

Tessa and Nancy feel compelled to spend their summer cleaning out the old farmhouse and possibly preparing it for sale. They each have their own personal problems, but they grudgingly work together and mostly argue. As the weeks go by they began to talk and relate the stories of their personal lives that they had never shared with each other before, and it all starts with the story of an old wedding ring quilt.

The characters that Emilie Richards creates are so real that I know I've met some of these people in my own life.

I agree with another reviewer here - this was the best summer read by far for me. I enjoyed all of the characters and how the story spun all of the history and present together. I was disappointed that I finished it - I want another good book to read like this!

This book wasn't a page-turner for me; it was one of those "I started it and I'm going to finish it" kind of books. Nontheless, it was a nice book, and I liked how it explored the issues and obsessions between mothers and daughters. I would have passed it on to my younger-teenage daughter, but the last few chapters changed my mind. Ah, for a book that doesn't describe everyone's bedroom interludes.... This author likes to promote her causes - MADD gets plugged several times in this book. Nontheless, it was interesting enough that I'm starting the next book.

I usually don't like books like this, but once I got into this story and learned more about the strength of Helen an expert quilt and family matriarch; Helen's daughter Nancy, who has had quite the uphill battle to overcome her simple country roots; and Tessa, Nancy's daughter who has lost a daughter and is determined to keep the drunk driver behind bars. the more of this book I read, the more I adored the women that I have met and the message that they tell.

Helen is now getting to the age where it's harder for her to take care of her home and her farm and when Nancy and Tessa go out for a visit they are shocked at what has become of Helen. Indomitable Helen just isn't able to do it all anymore, and when they arrive to discuss leaving her mountain home they are shocked at the mess the place is in. Helen has turned into a hoarder. Remember, she came from a time when you didn't throw anything away, you never know when you might need it again. Now there are just so many piles and such clutter that the home isn't safe anymore. While gathering up and throwing away Tessa finds the old quilts that her grandmother has made and with each quilt a little bit more of her grandmothers and in turn her mothers stories come out.

These three women deeply love each other, but with any family ties there are moments that you could just as easily walk away. But walking away isn't what these women are about and when they are face to face with that truth, you see them fight amongst themselves and those that love them to, come out better strong women in the end.

Family isn't easy but when you combine it was aging, failing marriages and the loss of a child what doesn't tear you apart will in time make stronger bonds that are what help woman who love each other accomplish anything.

First book in the Shenandoah Valley Series