THE HEALING QUILT

Quilting has been a template for more than one novel, and Snelling uses this device fairly adeptly as she tells the story of women who fall into friendship while making a quilt to raise money for a new hospital mammogram machine. The quilt is set up at Kit Cooper's mostly empty house—her young daughter, Amber, has recently died of cancer, and Kit's husband, Mark, has been away on business for months, avoiding the pain of their loss. Kit now fears that her beloved Aunt Teza, another quilter and her confidant, will be the next cancer victim. As she stitches her fabric, Beth Donnelly shares with her friends that she desperately wants a baby after her miscarriage, but she also hangs on to a terrible secret. Rich, middle-aged Elaine Giovanni is used to taking charge in quilting and in life, but finds her litigation-happy neighbor is causing things to careen out of control. There are plenty of dogs, kids and marital troubles woven into the story to keep it realistic and grounded, and some lovely descriptive writing. However, while Snelling knows how to turn a good phrase, there are far too many of them—the novel is too long, and the second half lacks punch. Nevertheless, Snelling's treatment of loss mitigated with humor, wit and faith should help this novel have wide appeal in the CBA. (July)