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Elm Creek Manor, the splendid rural estate of the Bergstrom family, has always housed multiple generations of Bergstroms. In pre-Depression days the manor's occupants enjoy genteel prosperity, and the thoroughbred horses they raise are the cornerstone of this prosperity.
Sisters Sylvia and Claudia are lifelong rivals. Two years older than Sylvia, Claudia is pretty and has a sunny disposition. Sylvia is the better student, has a less-than-sunny disposition, and is an accomplished quilter who takes great pride in besting Claudia's amateurish quilting efforts. Though Claudia and Sylvia always vie for their sickly mother's attention, both girls are very protective of their little brother, Richard.
The Bergstrom family has many long-held Christmas traditions: the baking and gifting of their famous apple strudels to their many friends, the hiding of a glass ruby and gold ornament for the young children to find, and selection of the Christmas tree from their own woods by the most-recently married couple in the family.
Sylvia returns to the Bergstrom estate in rural central Pennsylvania as its sole heir only after Claudia dies. Richard had died in the war so very many years before. The home seems empty and lonely to Sylvia, who had not set foot in it in 50 years. In fact, she had fled Elm Creek Manor after a horrible misunderstanding and remained away those many long years. Memories, by turns painful and overwhelming, flood Sylvia's soul with each glance of the familiar surroundings.
Sylvia and her young colleague, Sarah, decide to put Elm Creek Manor to good use again by operating a summer retreat for quilting enthusiasts. Now the manor is filled with women chatting, quilting, and enjoying the peaceful retreat. The quilt camp is highly successful, but the house becomes quiet during the offseason with Sylvia, Sarah, and Sarah's husband Matt its only occupants.
As Christmas Eve dawns Sylvia wants to be alone, but Sarah is determined to decorate and celebrate. Sylvia is adamant that Sarah visit her mother for the holidays to try to repair frayed family ties. Sylvia knows only too well the regret of severed family ties across the miles and years. The house and its furnishings continually remind her of what she has missed during the many decades since she angrily stormed out of the house.
While rummaging in the attic for holiday decorations Sarah discovers the Bergstrom Christmas quilt. Seeing the unfinished quilt and the various quilt pieces, once a source of family togetherness and continuity, almost overwhelms Sylvia. Her mother's delicate stitches, Claudia's uneven stitches --- in fact, all the intricate patterns and stitches by the quilt's creators so very long ago --- speak volumes to Sylvia and strengthens her resolve: Sarah simply must reunite with her mother.
Jennifer Chiaverini easily weaves her love and knowledge of quilting into this interesting novel about the importance of family. Much like a quilt, the varied patterns of the individual lives and the binding together of those individual lives into a cohesive unit are what make a family the uniquely crafted masterpiece that it is.
--- Reviewed by Carole Turner
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