Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Can three sisters stitch their family back together?
Loretta loves running the little village sewing shop in Butterbury. Some of her most precious memories are sitting with her three daughters Daisy, Ginny and Fern, stitching together pieces of material - and their hopes and dreams.
But this Christmas the family is coming apart at the seams: Fern feels like she's failing at motherhood and marriage, Ginny's passion for her job as a midwife is fading, Daisy is desperate to prove she ' s changed since her wild younger years - and most of all, Loretta seems to be hiding something...
As they come together to create a new festive quilt, the bond between the sisters begins to heal. But when Loretta reveals the real reason she's brought them all home, can the sisters mend the quilt, and their family, in time for Christmas?
Many thanks to Orion via NetGalley for my copy of Christmas at the Village Sewing Shop to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
I think I’ve read only perhaps one or two books previously by Helen Rolfe and after reading this wonderful, feel-good, festive story - Christmas at the Village Sewing Shop, I really do need to rectify that and go back and read so much more from this great author. First of all, doesn’t this cover just scream Christmas and all things cosy and certainly get you excited for the most wonderful time of the year? Then the title just said to me, read me now, you won’t be disappointed and I wasn’t in the slightest. A wonderful setting, brilliantly described with a wide range of characters that capture your interest, a family divided but there is hope they will come back together and a mystery at the centre of it all and all based around the run up to Christmas and not forgetting the community spirit. Well, really you have everything you want and crave in a festive read.
Loretta runs the Butterbury Sewing Box and it has been in her family for over 70 years but she has a lot on her mind and is finding keeping up the pretence of everything being a bed of roses quite difficult. What she found out a few months ago could potentially throw the very fabric of her family’s existence apart and there is not much she can do about it. Loretta wants her three daughters to return to the village for the weeks leading up to Christmas. Seems a simple request, right? Well that’s not the case as her three daughters, Ginny, Fern and Daisy, are not the solid sisterhood they once were. Loretta urges them to all get together as their grandfather Ivor, now resident in the local care home, is not the sprightly man he once was and she feels as a family they need to spend more time with him. You could see from the outset that whatever was on Loretta’s mind weighed heavily and reading between the lines there is a good and valid reason for setting her plan in motion.
Loretta hates that the girls are no longer as close as they once were and she really wants to do something about it but at the same time there is a mystery at the centre of this story. It’s a secret that when revealed you truly appreciate how wonderfully woven it was throughout the story and the way it was developed was brilliant. Loretta wants to bring the happy memories of times gone past back to the forefront of her daughters lives. Has she left it too late and when they discover what she has been hiding will they be able to forgive her? The further I delved into the story the more I just wanted to know what was so big that Loretta felt the need to put a plan into action. Why all the secrecy and plotting? Could she not just come out and say what was troubling her?
The girls are all vastly different and to be honest initially I found it challenging to keep track of who was who and what their back story was. But once I got things clear in my head I was able to really sit back and enjoy the story that was unfolding. That was the only minor issue I had with the story but perhaps it was more so me and my concentration levels when I started to read the book. Fern is married to Everett and they have two sons. She is very dedicated to her job and her home life but cracks are beginning to show in their marriage. She feels like the harder she tries the more she fails and to be honest I found her to be quite unnecessarily tough on herself. She placed such high expectations on herself and what she tries to do for other people that they couldn’t all possibly become a successful reality.It’s normal to make mistakes and to have to let people down but she just places too much pressure on herself to be perfect in every practical way. She feels like she is failing both her family and herself, that she is not completely holding things together and she is no longer happy and in control. Will returning home for an extended period of time and reconnecting with her mother and sisters help her to face the issues that complicate her life on a daily basis?
Ginny gave up her permeant midwifery job four years ago and since then has signed to an agency and moves around and works as a midwife whenever a vacancy comes up. But is the travelling bug deserting her? Has this way of life lost its allure? She doesn’t come home to Butterbury all that often and I sensed a piece of her heart had been left there when former partner Lucas decide to take a job across the Atlantic Ocean. Ginny came across as someone who was drifting and needed direction. She needed to be tethered to the one place for awhile in order to reassess the next steps she wished to take in life. Deep down, you knew that Ginny actually knew what she wanted but didn’t want to upset others by expressing this. Miscommunication or on the other hand not communicating at all really affected how the three sisters dealt with things and a lot of problems could have been easily solved had they been more open.
Daisy was the sister who stayed behind to run the sewing shop with their mother. She loved photography and the reader could clearly see this was her big passion in life but she has taken on the responsibility of making sure that her mother is happy. After all, she has been on her own since their beloved father passed away leaving a gaping void in all their lives. But is Daisy just passing time? Is sewing and quilting really what she wants to spend the rest of her life doing or does she feel obliged to do so? Daisy at times was tense and she tended to almost want to start arguments amongst the sisters. It was evident that all three girls had their own private issues and Loretta hopes that by coming back together that everything will come out in the open. Will it be a success or a complete disaster?
Given that sewing is mentioned in the title of course it would have to feature and it forms a real backbone to the story. To be honest, I don’t have any major interest in sewing or quilting but it’s thanks to the brilliant and vivid descriptions from the author that this pastime came alive for me on the pages. I could visualise this unique, warm and comforting little shop and as the sisters began a quilt for their grandfather it stirred so many memories for them and I just really loved all the little details and Christmas imagery being conjured up. It really was inspirational and gave you that feel good Christmassy feeling inside. One question was always on my mind whilst reading - how had the sisters relationship become so disjointed? How had they gone from such closeness to having lives that rarely crossed? I was keen to discover the answer. The more the book developed I found it to have a real focus on family and sisterhood rather than romance which was such a refreshing change to many books in this genre and this turned into such a lovely, magical and memorable story.
I am always left disappointed when a Christmas read claims to be that and then falls so far short of the mark when Christmas is barely if at all mentioned. Do some authors just tend to jump on wagon of the Christmas genre which only grows bigger every year as more and more people want to feel that Christmassy feeling in what they are reading? Thankfully Helen Rolfe didn’t fall into that trap and Christmas at the Village Sewing Shop ticked every box when it came to my Christmas reading checklist and I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent with Loretta, Ginny, Fern and Daisy. The themes, issues and emotions explored were carefully considered and the storyline as a whole was well plotted and realistic with one or two surprising turn of events. The book as a whole really gave me that feel good feeling that you want at what can be for some one of the darkest times of the year but it also it offers an ideal escape away from the hustle and bustle of all the preparations that lead up to the big day. It’s an engaging story about family, friendships, secrets and community. You won’t go far wrong in picking up this delightful read if you need to get away from things for a little while. I really do hope that Helen Rolfe will return to the setting of Butterbury in future books. It and it’s residents have captured a place in my heart.
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