Friday, March 6, 2020

Literary Sewing Circle: Bellewether


Spring is here, and so is a new Literary Sewing Circle title! I'm happy to announce that our group read for this round of the Literary Sewing Circle is

Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley 



Summary:

Some houses seem to want to hold their secrets.

It’s 1759 and the world is at war, pulling the North American colonies of Britain and France into the conflict. The times are complicated, as are the loyalties of many New York merchants who have secretly been trading with the French for years, defying Britain’s colonial laws in a game growing ever more treacherous.

When captured French officers are brought to Long Island to be billeted in private homes on their parole of honour, it upends the lives of the Wilde family—deeply involved in the treasonous trade and already divided by war.

Lydia Wilde, struggling to keep the peace in her fracturing family following her mother’s death, has little time or kindness to spare for her unwanted guests. And Canadian lieutenant Jean-Philippe de Sabran has little desire to be there. But by the war’s end they’ll both learn love, honour, and duty can form tangled bonds that are not broken easily.

Their doomed romance becomes a local legend, told and re-told through the years until the present day, when conflict of a different kind brings Charley Van Hoek to Long Island to be the new curator of the Wilde House Museum.

Charley doesn’t believe in ghosts. But as she starts to delve into the history of Lydia and her French officer, it becomes clear that the Wilde House holds more than just secrets, and Charley discovers the legend might not have been telling the whole story...or the whole truth.

(via publisher


About Susanna:


© Jacques du Toit
Susanna Kearsley is a New York Times, USA TODAY, and Globe and Mail bestselling author and former museum curator who loves restoring the lost voices of real people to the page, interweaving historical intrigue with modern suspense. Her books, published in translation in more than twenty countries, have won the Catherine Cookson Fiction Prize, RT Reviewers’ Choice Awards, a RITA Award, and National Readers’ Choice Awards, and have finaled for the UK’s Romantic Novel of the Year and the Crime Writers of Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel. She lives near Toronto. Visit her at SusannaKearsley.com or follow her on Twitter @SusannaKearsley.  


(via publisher)



This book is available for purchase in both hard copy and ebook formats, as well as in audiobook format.

You can find many formats at all of these locations:

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com.au

Book Depository

Chapters Indigo

Powell's

Barnes and Noble

IndieBound

ABE Books

Biblio.com


Or, of course, check your local library!

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How does the Literary Sewing Circle work? We read a book together, discuss it, and then make something inspired by our reading. As long as you can point out what inspired you from your reading, even if just a sentence, you can share your makes in our final roundup!

Anyone can join, and you can sew, knit, quilt or embroider - any textile art that you like doing - to participate. This is a reading/sewing circle, very low-key; no competitions here, just reading and sewing for fun. Although we are very lucky to have special sponsors this time around -- two of the finished projects will be chosen at random to each receive one of the free pattern offerings. Just finish and post your project by the end of the linkup and you will have a chance to win.

There is no official sign-up to worry about; just start reading along if you wish, and leave your thoughts on the book or your project on any of the Literary Sewing Circle posts. We do have a dedicated book discussion post halfway through and again at the end, but leave your thoughts anytime. And when the final post goes up, so does the project linkup -- you can leave a link to your finished project there, whether it is on your blog, a pattern site, or even Instagram. It's easy :)

So, join in, and share!



Literary Sewing Circle Schedule



Mar 6 - Announcement & Introduction
Mar 13 - Inspiration post & featured sponsors

Mar 20
- Author feature
Mar 27
- Halfway mark: book talk
April 3
- Inspiration post
April 10
- Final Post: book discussion wrap up & posting of project linkup


(The project linkup will be live until May 1 - three more weeks - so you have enough time to get your project posted)



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And now for our sponsors!

Because this book involves so much Quebec content, we have two wonderful sponsors, both based in Quebec.


Jalie Patterns is based in Quebec City, and they are offering one free PDF pattern to a participant.



Closet Case Patterns is based in Montreal, and they are offering a $25 credit to their online shop to a participant.

Winners will be selected by random draw on May 2, once all projects are linked up. This is more of a friendly sewalong than a competition, so all prizes are chosen via random number generator. If you participate and link up your project, you have a chance to win one of these generous sponsor prizes.
Thank you to our sponsors!



13 comments:

  1. This sounds amazing! I'd love to participate

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  2. Yay! If you find a copy soon, we'll be sharing some book talk over the next few weeks :)

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  3. Hi Melanie. I have been waiting for this moment! Once again a book I probably not have selected off the library shelf, but that is what I love about the Literary Sewing Circle - it takes me out of my usual zone for books and sewing.
    My library has this one on stock, so I will be able to start reading this week.
    A lovely choice of sponsors also.

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    1. I'm glad your library has a copy so you can get started! Hope you find this one interesting too :)

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  4. Thanks, Melanie! Can't wait to get started reading.

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    1. I hope you'll like it, and be inspired to create something wonderful. I already have some ideas! But then I have a bit of a jump start ;)

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  5. Melanie, I found your forum over at PatternReview.com, and this sounds like so much fun! I have put a hold on the book through my local library. it sounds like a good read. Thanks for organizing this, I think it's a great idea. 🙂 Kathy (Kidnotes @ Pr.com)

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    1. Hey Kathy! Glad you found it. I always enjoy seeing what people think of the book and the kinds of projects that appear. Hope you enjoy reading and sewing along.

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  6. This sounds amazing...going to hunt down the book!

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    1. So glad it sounds good to you! Good luck finding a copy -- it shouldn't be too hard as it seems to be widely available.

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  7. I am just devouring this book, I think I have about 100 pages left. So good. I have a few theories about the ending and a few project ideas. Can't wait to start!

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    Replies
    1. Wow! So happy to hear that. Isn't just such a satisfying read??

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  8. It is! Now I need to look up her other books, too.

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Share your comments, ideas or suggestions here -- I am always interested in hearing from readers. It's nice to have a conversation!