The World's Fair Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini Book Review

About the Book:

As fall paints the Pennsylvania countryside in flaming colors, Sylvia Bergstrom Compson is contemplating the future of her beloved Elm Creek Quilts. The Elm Creek Quilt Camp remains the most popular quilter’s retreat in the country, but unexpected financial difficulties have beset them and the Bergstrom family’s stately nineteenth-century manor. Now in her eighth decade, Sylvia is determined to maintain her family’s legacy, but she needs new resources—financial and emotional.

 

Summer Sullivan—a founding Elm Creek Quilter—arrives to discuss an antique quilt that she wants to display at the Waterford Historical Society’s quilt exhibit. When Sylvia and her sister Claudia were teenagers, they had entered a quilt in the Sears National Quilt Contest for the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition, also known as the Chicago World’s Fair. The Bergstrom sisters’ quilt would be perfect for the Historical Society’s exhibit, Summer explains.

Sylvia is reluctant to lend out the quilt, which has been stored in the attic for decades, nearly forgotten. In keeping with the contest’s “Century of Progress” theme, the girls illustrated progress of values—scenes of the Emancipation Proclamation, woman’s suffrage, and labor unions. But although it won ribbons, the quilt also drove a wedge between the sisters.,

 

As Sylvia reluctantly retraces her quilt’s story for Summer, she makes an unexpected discovery—one that restores some of her faith in this unique work of art, and helps shine some light on a way forward for the Elm Creek Quilts community.

My Review:

This is another heart warming novel about the fascinating world of quilts. I like how Chiaverini weaves relationships into an informative novel about quilts, using a dual time plot technique. Not a quilter myself, I enjoy finding illustrations of the patterns referenced in the book. I also liked learning about the Sears National Quilt Contest, something I had not even heard about.

This is a good novel for readers who enjoy quilting but will also be appreciated for the warm family relationships portrayed.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

About the Author:

Jennifer Chiaverini is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-five novels, including critically acclaimed historical fiction and the beloved Elm Creek Quilts series. She, her husband, and their two sons call Madison, Wisconsin, home. Photo: Michael Chiaverini

Harper Collins, 336 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)