My Literary Travels

With her fourth installment in the Cobbled Court Quilting series, Ms. Bostwick introduces us to two distinctly different women who, once friends, tragically fell apart as children and, only now after experiencing separate trials and heartaches, find healing and restoration in renewal of their friendship.  As Tessa and Madelyn, with the help of the growing Cobbled Court quilting circle, both learn there’s little we can do on our own when hard times hit.  Loss, grief, failure, mistakes…they all require the support of friends who are willing to stand by us and fight when we can fight no longer.  Both women must learn to forgive – themselves, each other, and the people in their lives that have hurt them significantly – before they can move on to the brighter futures that await them.  The journey is hard but, together, they just might make it through.

I loved this book as much as I’ve loved all its predecessors.  Its timeless lessons, intriguing characters and touching plot render it a heart-warming read, just perfect for those dismal winters days.  I only have one complaint / plea to the author: please, please, please won’t you finally give us Margot’s story!  I’ve been waiting and waiting for it, knowing it will be good, so please won’t you satisfy my curiosity?

As always, I found many wonderful quotes that I’d like to remember within the pages of this highly recommended read:

“Tessa was a good little girl, loved by her family and held up as an example by her teachers. Surprisingly, this did nothing to decrease her popularity among her peers. Everyone liked Tessa; they always had. And that was a problem. Tessa had never known anything but approval and success and was, therefore, frightened by the idea of failure or disapproval. Because of this, she was an unusually compliant child, doing and saying what was expected, avoiding risks, coloring inside the lines.”

“Now that the pump has been primed it seems that everything I do brings forth a stream of prayer: quilting, gardening, breathing. And I’ve noticed that the more I give thanks for what I have, the more I notice how much I have to be thankful for. Strange how that works.”