Mona Hodgson's The Quilted Heart ~ Reviewed

THE QUILTED HEART
Mona Hodgson
Pages 400
Binding Softcover
Release Date Jan 21, 2014
Series Quilted Heart
ISBN 0307731146



Description

Like a beautiful patchwork quilt, the three novellas in The Quilted Heart tell stories of lives stitched together with love and God's unending grace. 

Once a week, Elsa Brantenberg hosts the Saint Charles Quilting Circle at her farmhouse on the outskirts of the riverside town of St. Charles, Missouri. The ladies who gather there have all experienced heartache related to the intense hardships of the Civil War, and together, they are facing their painful circumstances with friendship and prayer. Can the tattered pieces of their hearts be stitched together by God's grace?                 

Review

The Quilted Heart follows three young women in St. Charles, Missouri.  All have been through different experiences during the Civil War, but become friends through a quilting circle held once a week. Maren Jensen took a job At Elsa Brantenberg’s home after being rejected as a mail-order bride due to her impending blindness.  She is content at the moment to help Elsa at her home, as well as to help her raise her granddaughter, Gabi.  When Gabi’s father, “Wooly,” returns after disappearing when Gabi’s mother died, Maren finds herself hoping for a chance at love.  Emilie Heinrich helps her father run the town general store. While her father insists she continue her education at a local Ladies’ college, Emilie is content to stay home and take care of her father.  In the meantime, she is reacquainted with childhood friend, Quaid, and comes to realize she may want more out of life than running her father’s general store.  Then, there’s Caroline, whose husband was killed in the Civil War.  She isn’t sure where to go from here with her life, until Garrett Cowlishaw comes into town.  She never thought she could love another again, but as she gets to know Garrett, she finds she’s having a change of heart. 

               

This was a great book.  I loved how each story was separate, but all three were tied together at the same time.  The characters were so likeable.  I found I was excited to keep reading to see what happened next. 

Reviewed by: Sarah Meyers