The Sugar Camp Quilt

By: Jennifer Chiaverini

Narrated by: Christina Moore

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

Jennifer Chiaverini's New York Times best-selling Elm Creek Quilt novels, with their irresistible blend of storytelling magic and quilting lore, have captured the hearts of countless fans. In this moving novel about morality, freedom, and the power of human courage, Chiaverini whisks listeners back to antebellum America.

As the nation moves toward civil war, one resident of Creek's Crossing, Pennsylvania, has her life irrevocably changed. Dorothea Granger is asked by her uncle, shortly before his violent death, to stitch an unusual quilt. When she learns that the quilt contains hidden clues for the Underground Railroad, Dorothea makes a brave decision. She will put her own life at risk to continue the work that cost her uncle his life.

The Dallas Morning News hails the Elm Creek Quilt books as "classics of their kind", and this stirring historical yarn is another satisfying entry in the series.

©2005 Jennifer Chiaverini (P)2005 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic Reviews

"Even a newcomer to the popular Elm Creek Quilts series will quickly get caught up in the lives of the ladies who stitch." (Publishers Weekly)

Take Two

I agree with the previous reviewer - the author must have read Pride and Prejudice one time too many and couldn't get it out of her mind. From the very first introduction of the "Mr. Darcy" character and his comments at the dance, I saw it coming. Instead of creating any tender feeling for a developing relationship, the dialogue that was blatantly Austen made me laugh and made me mad! I DID enjoy the remainder of the book, about the events of the time and the clever use of the quilt. I just wish she had started with an original - or at least significantly altered - premise for the interaction of the characters.

A Story with Too Much

I enjoyed this story very much. This was the first Jennifer Chiaverini Quilt book that I've ever listened to or read, and probably will not be my last. The characters were well formed, the plot moved along nicely, and I learned a lot about life as an abolitionist. The only problem I have with this fine tale is that the author blatantly copys or borrows the entire love story directly from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, my favorite novel of all time. I understand all about allusion, and this was not an example of that at all. In The Bridget Jones Diaries, Helen Fielding playfully references Pride and Prejudice several times, but always in an obvious and tongue in cheek way. Alluding to a great work of literature in this manner is great. Jennifer Chiaverini, however, has her characters, Dorothea Granger and Thomas Nielson speaking lines practically verbatim that Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett said years ago. I didn't like this at all. Surely a capable author such as this could have created a more clever and less cliched romantic element to this otherwise enjoyable story.

Clean story. Kept my interest

Historically accurate fiction with a very interesting storyline. The villains were worth hating and the heroes and heroines could be admired. This is the second one in this series that I have listened to and it won't be my last.

Nice little history reminder

This was a good example of a little research for the civil war era. It gave a good peek at how life really was. How people lived and the difference in political persuasions.

audio book

I enjoyed this book on audio. The reader was very entertaining with voice changes and kept the story moving nicly.

Amazing

Oh, how I wasn’t ready for the end, made me long for more. Now on to next book in series.

The Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania

Long a fan of The Elm Creek Quilts series, I hadn’t happened upon this one until now. And its one of my favorites. At age nineteen, Dorothea Granger is nearly considered an old maid for the times in which they lived. She, her mother and father lived on a farm with her uncle Jacob, having lost their own farm to a flood and poor money management. Uncle Jacob, expert at tapping the maple trees, was so gruff with them all and a hard task master. Dorothea was a teacher at the local school until the local school board hired the son of a wealthy land owner to take her place. And at their very first meeting, Dorothea and Thomas Nelson, with his university education rubbed each other the wrong way. But as time passes, Dorothea will learn that things are not always as they appear. This is a lovely story, rich with political tensions of the times and descriptions of the prejudices endured by escaping slaves (and freed slaves) by those who considered themselves “better” than them. The trials and injuries that these people went through, along with anyone brave enough to aid in their escape and transit into Canada, makes for an interesting and harrowing tale. The secrecy and danger involved in the Underground Railroad was ever present during this time prior to the Civil War, and continued during and even after. People with money, power and influence often put on a show that turned out to be anything but what it looked like . . . then and now. This is one of my favorite quilt books as well as historical fiction stories.

Absolutely a great listen

I couldn't even be disturbed to answer the phone with this one. Wonderful for quilters and non-quilters alike. Great offering by this wonderful author. Cynthia

The Sugar Camp Quilt

Great story telling ability by author. Enjoyable listening from a very good narrerator.

A good historical fiction story!

I finished this in one day and it was a splendid historic fiction. I am actually thinking of looking up the Elm Creek Quilt books in physical form just to see if there are sketches or drawings of some things mentioned in the stories. There really isn't a dull moment. FYI- there are wonderful examples of foreshadowing, irony, character development and why one should not always hold onto first impressions. #leftmewantingtoknowmoreofthestory