The Lost Quilter

by Jennifer Chiaverini

Book Overview

Master Quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson treasures an antique quilt called by three names -- Birds in the Air, after its pattern; the Runaway Quilt, after the woman who sewed it; and the Elm Creek Quilt, after the place to which its maker longed to return. That quilter was Joanna, a fugitive slave who traveled by the Underground Railroad to reach safe haven in 1859 at Elm Creek Farm.Though Joanna's freedom proved short-lived -- she was forcibly returned by slave catchers to Josiah Chester's plantation in Virginia -- she left the Bergstrom family a most precious gift, her son. Hans and Anneke Bergstrom, along with maiden aunt Gerda, raised the boy as their own, and the secret of his identity died with their generation. Now it falls to Sylvia -- drawing upon Gerda's diary and Joanna's quilt -- to connect Joanna's past to present-day Elm Creek Manor.Just as Joanna could not have foreseen that, generations later, her quilt would become the subject of so much speculation and wonder, Sylvia and her friends never could have imagined the events Joanna witnessed in her lifetime. Punished for her escape by being sold off to her master's brother in Edisto Island, South Carolina, Joanna grieves over the loss of her son and resolves to run again, to reunite with him someday in the free North. Farther south than she has ever been, she nevertheless finds allies, friends, and even love in the slave quarter of Oak Grove, a cotton plantation where her skill with needle and thread soon becomes highly prized.Through hardship and deprivation, Joanna dreams of freedom and returning to Elm Creek Farm. Determined to remember each landmark on the route north, Joanna pieces a quilt of scraps left over from the household sewing, concealing clues within the meticulous stitches. Later, in service as a seamstress to the new bride of a Confederate officer, Joanna moves on to Charleston, where secrets she keeps will affect the fate of a nation, and her abilities and courage enable her to aid the country and the people she loves most.The knowledge that scraps can be pieced and sewn into simple lines -- beautiful both in and of themselves and also for what they represent and what they can accomplish -- carries Joanna through dark days. Sustaining herself and her family through ingenuity and art during the Civil War and into Reconstruction, Joanna leaves behind a remarkable artistic legacy that, at last, allows Sylvia to discover the fate of the long-lost quilter.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416533168
• ISBN13: 9781416533160
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.7" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Excellent

This is the story of Joanna, that we met in the runaway quilt. It was so good I couldn't put it down! Finished it in a day. Excellent!

Elm Creek Series

The Elm Creek was so wonderful,it was hard to put down the one I was reading.I have all of them and treasure them. Would like to read more of her books if there are any pertaining to Elm Creek ladies.

The Lost Quilter. I've purchased the complete series and really consider this to be the best of the

THE BEST!

This truly is a very wonderful book. I thought I was going to miss having the story be just about Elm Creek Quilts but this was so riviting that I could not put it down. A truly wonderful book about Joanna. Good going Jennifer. Keep the books coming.

wonderful book

I've read and enjoyed all of Ms. Chiaverini's books, but this one is exceptional. It captivated me and I didn't get anything done at home until I read the last page. The picture of slavery is heartbreaking, but hope is intermixed with the sorrow. I read "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett, about life before civil rights for black maids in Mississippi, right after I finished "The Lost Quilter," and though it was wonderful also. Also, I highly recommend "Love Mercy" by Earlene Fowler. 2009 must be The Year of Fabulous Books.

A wonderful tale by a master writer

I pre-ordered this book last August, as last summer I read the entire Elk Creek Quilt book series, and enjoyed every one of them. However, this one made me angry, angry at the injustices that the African-Americans endured in the "land of the free." This book moved my heart and spirit and I felt like I was standing on the side watching the whole tale unfold. Even though the characters are fictional, similar events occurred. When reading local history where I live in Northeastern Pennsylvania, a main street a block from my home, an incident occurred in the 1800's. A street I have walked many times in my lifetime, a runaway slave was taken and thrown on a buckboard and taken back to his owner. I agree with the the previous two reviews, it is the best of the Elm Creek book series.

Quilting transcends time and social class

During the off season, Sylvia Bergstrom Compson and some of her Elm Creek quilt camp staffers find a small stack of letters stuck in the locked drawer of an old desk. The letters date to the late 1800s and appear to be related to the story brought forth in "The Runaway Quilt," which revealed that a slave named Joanna was once harbored at the Bergstrom estate, just before the Civil War erupted. Sylvia would love to investigate the history behind the letters, but she feels that she's not a good enough researcher. And Summer Sullivan isn't around to help with the project. She's off in Chicago, going to grad school. In the meantime, we readers are magically transported to 1859, and the day when Joanna is recaptured by slavers and is marched back on foot from Pennsylvania to Virginia. From that point on, the stage is all hers. What we learned in the previous book was merely a vignette, a tiny portion of Joanna's life story. Here, we're exposed to it all. We follow her back to the plantation she came from. We find out how and why Joanna began to quilt herself. We experience her days, both before and after her journey to central Pennsylvania. It's easy for us to like Joanna and champion her cause; and it's easy to want only good things to happen to her. But here it is her fate to be a slave in Virginia and then later, in South Carolina. Imagine facing such difficult times that you can find comfort only in a colleague's basic advice to just "Keep breathin'." Yikes. As with any slave narrative, even a fictitious one, some of the scenes are heart-breaking at the very least and utterly reprehensible at the most. And yet, we need to be reminded of that part of our American past. We also need to make an international jump and acknowledge that somewhere else on the planet right now, other folks (both men and women) are being treated as inhumanely as African Americans were in the Confederate South in the mid-1800s. It's an unfortunate fact that cannot help but crop up in the back of the readers' minds, while their fingers continue to turn these pages. Will Summer Sullivan be able to present Sylvia with ANY of Joanna's history merely through official documentation? Or will we readers now know more than Sylvia and the Elm Creek characters themselves ever will? That possibility in and of itself makes for an interesting dilemma. Fans may want to back up and first re-read "The Runaway Quilt" so that the details are fresh in their minds for this continuation of the story. And yet, "The Lost Quilter" is a powerful, stand-alone read in its own right. Ms. Chiaverini has woven a fabric of historical fiction that is as compelling as any offered to us by veteran storyteller John Jakes. To diehard readers who may yearn for an Elm Creek book that concentrates on the familiar, contemporary characters; and to those who may ask, "What does history have to do with quilts, anyway?" one can only say, Read the book. Read the book, and you will know why thi

best Elm Creeks Quilt tale in years

Master Quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson cherishes her special an antique quilt with an incredible history. Some call it "Birds in the Air" based on the design; others call it the "Runaway Quilt" after the runaway slave who sewed it; and finally "the Elm Creek Quilt" where Joanna the slave reached having ridden the Underground Railroad in 1859. Slave catchers caught Joanna and brought her back to her owner, Josiah Chester in Virginia, but she left behind with the Bergstrom family, her son. Hans and Anneke Bergstrom and Aunt Gerda raised the child as their own; concealing his true identity. In the present Sylvia searches Gerda's diary and Joanna's quilt for clues as to the identity of the runaway slave who stitched a masterpiece. The best Elm Creeks Quilt tale in years, THE LOST QUILTER answers many of the questions raised in THE RUNAWAY QUILT. The story of Joanna to include her punishment following her recapture makes for a fresh tale with much of her early saga sewed into the quilt. Fans of the series will relish Joanna's tale of bondage and liberty; as she as THE LOST QUILTER wants the freedom for her and her loved ones to soar like the birds in the air of THE RUNAWAY QUILT. Harriet Klausner