A Promise in Pieces | A Quilts of Love Book
It’s been more than 50 years since Clara cared for injured WWII soldiers in the Women’s Army Corp. Fifty years since she promised to deliver a dying soldier’s last wish. And 50 years since that soldier’s young widow gave her the baby quilt—a grief-ridden gift that would provide hope to countless newborns in the years to come. On her way to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Clara decides it’s time to share her story. But when the trip doesn’t go as planned, Clara wonders if anyone will learn the great significance of the quilt—and the promise stitched inside it.My thoughts:
Stepping back in time was both interesting and informative. WWII seems so long ago and so many of those who fought in or were alive during that time have passed away, that we often don't think too much about it. Seeing the war from Clara's point of view, running off to join the army as a nurse and being stationed in Europe caring for those taken from the field, brought the whole thing alive for me.
The last review book I read was about the women and men left behind in the US during the fighting and especially the women who took jobs that had been held by men prior to the war, as welders of ships and factory workers so it was interesting to see the war from a woman's perspective on the other side, actually being there for the action and dealing with the bloody aftermath.
Clara is very touched when an injured man asks to write to his wife before he dies. Keeping that letter with her, she delivers it in person as she promised. How do you learn to trust again after seeing death and dying first hand, how do you make friends when the friends you thought you had were willing to leave you behind with only angry words, and how do you decide to open your heart and move forward?
This story is told by Clara to her grandson on a long car trip from Pennsylvania to New Orleans. I found myself wishing she would stay in storyteller mode, but later was glad to have gotten those glimpses into what her life was like in the present.
The quilt from the title is a baby quilt. The wife of the soldier Clara delivers the letter for gives her the quilt when she leaves. Clara plans to embark on a new career path as a midwife and the wife feels that after losing her husband, she will never have a child of her own and looking at the quilt is just too painful. That quilt bundles many babies, as well as comforting some older people as well. It is like the love that was sewn into it with dreams of the young couples children spreads to those who find comfort in it's warmth.
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Book Tour Information
Emily T. Wierenga
Quilts of Love, Book 17
Historical Fiction
Abingdon Press
2014
1426758855
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