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In the years leading up to the Civil War, nineteen-year-old Dorothea Granger and her parents live with her widowed Uncle Jacob, a cantankerous autocrat, in Creek’s Crossing, Pennsylvania. Her family lost their farm and possessions in a flood and must depend on Jacob’s charity. The family has hopes that Jacob will leave his farm to Jonathan, Dorothea’s older brother, and so do all they can to please their ill-tempered relative.
Dorothea’s family are pro-abolitionists and befriend neighbors who were former slaves. Dorothea’s beau, Cyrus Pearson, and his family are on opposite sides of the slavery issue.
Dorethea is an interim schoolteacher and enjoys the children in her class. When Thomas Nelson is hired as the schoolmaster, she is appalled to learn he is a former convict. She is assured that he is repentant and from a good family, but meeting him in person does nothing to alleviate her misgivings.
When Dorothea begins work on a quilt to raise funds for the library, her Uncle Jacob asks her to sew a quilt for him, and is specific about its design. When Jacob dies suddenly, the family discovers the true purpose of the quilt’s unusual design. And Dorothea discovers the true characters of the men in her life.
THE SUGAR CAMP QUILT is the seventh in the Elm Creek Quilts series. This is the first of the series that I’ve read, and I had a hard time placing characters at the beginning of the book. Several characters are introduced on the first page, but it wasn’t clear to me until several pages later that Robert Granger was Dorothea’s father. The details of sugar maple farming were fascinating. I enjoyed the author’s characters, especially when their true personalities were revealed. I’ll look for more books by Jennifer Chiaverini.
Reviewed by Marie DisBrow
for The Road to Romance
March 16, 2006
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