The New Year’s Quilt

The latest in the author’s Elm Creek Quilts series finds septuagenarian Sylvia Compson determined not to repeat past mistakes. Having married on Christmas Eve at Elm Creek Manor, the family homestead turned quilter’s haven, Sylvia and longtime family friend Andrew Cooper have to face the music and tell Andrew’s children, especially his bitter daughter, Amy. On the way, master quilter Sylvia plies at a long unfinished quilt she calls New Year’s Reflections, which she plans to give Amy in the hope of reconciliation. Elaborate memories of Sylvia’s German-American childhood include a long rift with elder sister Claudia. Chiaverini’s stitching is sound. (Nov.)