![]() ![]() The farm is falling apart, there is little food to eat, squatters are living on her property, her horse is dying and she is constantly being scolded. As the story unfolds, secrets and mysteries flourish, and Alice shares every joy and sorrow with her sister by letter. In her long, gossipy letters to Lizzie we experience Alice's life on the run-down farm. Show More with accounts of quilting bees, the hardness of farm life, and small town customs. I will enthusiastically recommend Alice's Tulips and all of Sandra Dallas' work to quilters and fans of female-centered historical fiction such as that written by Jennifer Chiaverini and Tracy Chevalier. There is a murder, but it plays a lesser role in the story than Alice's growth as a woman. For the most part, the letters work well as a storytelling device, though some passages don't come across as entirely authentic - for example, when Alice describes her appearance to her sister or recounts an entire conversation verbatim, though as a reader I was glad for the information! I expected a murder mystery from the book's description. I am not a quilter, but enjoyed reading the historical tidbits. Each chapter began with a brief quilting blurb, which tied in with the letters that followed. ![]() ![]() Through her letters, Dallas captures many of the hardships women faced in the era. Alice is spunky, funny, and quite likable. Show More farm with her stern mother-in-law when her husband joins the Union Army during the Civil War. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |