The Shop on Blossom Street
3 journalers for this copy...
From Publishers Weekly
A Seattle knitting store brings together four very different women in this earnest tale about friendship and love. Lydia Hoffman, a two-time cancer survivor, opens the shop A Good Yarn as a symbol of the new life she plans to lead. She starts a weekly knitting class, hoping to improve business and make friends in the area. The initial class project is a baby blanket, and Macomber (Changing Habits), a knitter herself who offers tips about the craft and pithy observations from knitting professionals throughout the novel, includes the knitting pattern at the start of the book. Well-heeled Jacqueline Donovan, who chooses to ignore her empty marriage, disguises her disdain for her pregnant daughter-in-law by knitting a baby blanket. Carol Girard joins the group as an affirmation of her hopes to finally have a successful in vitro pregnancy. Alix Townsend, a high school dropout with an absentee father and a mother incarcerated for forging checks, uses the class to satisfy a court-ordered community service sentence for a drug-possession conviction for which her roommate is really responsible. Unfortunately, Macomber doesn't get much below the surface of her characters, and, although they all have interesting back stories, the arc of each individual happy ending is too predictable. The only surprise involves Alix's hapless, overweight roommate, Laurel, and even this smacks of plot-driven manipulation. Macomber is an adept storyteller overall, however, and many will be entertained by this well-paced story about four women finding happiness and fulfillment through their growing friendships.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From AudioFile
Narrator Linda Emond portrays four women, from a Goth to a reluctant grandmother, who become unlikely friends in a knitting class. Emond develops a sense of urgency through timing and expert vocal nuance as reoccurring illness and miscarriage, divorce and betrayal rather predictably visit the characters. Clearly capturing each woman as she supports the others and searches for the answers to her own troubles, Emond outdoes herself in portraying counterculture proponent Alix, who joins the group to fulfill court-ordered community service. Although the novel is slow to start, the warmth of Emond's voice so embodies the tenacious characters as to deliver a worthwhile story of change and hope. G.D.W. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
A Seattle knitting store brings together four very different women in this earnest tale about friendship and love. Lydia Hoffman, a two-time cancer survivor, opens the shop A Good Yarn as a symbol of the new life she plans to lead. She starts a weekly knitting class, hoping to improve business and make friends in the area. The initial class project is a baby blanket, and Macomber (Changing Habits), a knitter herself who offers tips about the craft and pithy observations from knitting professionals throughout the novel, includes the knitting pattern at the start of the book. Well-heeled Jacqueline Donovan, who chooses to ignore her empty marriage, disguises her disdain for her pregnant daughter-in-law by knitting a baby blanket. Carol Girard joins the group as an affirmation of her hopes to finally have a successful in vitro pregnancy. Alix Townsend, a high school dropout with an absentee father and a mother incarcerated for forging checks, uses the class to satisfy a court-ordered community service sentence for a drug-possession conviction for which her roommate is really responsible. Unfortunately, Macomber doesn't get much below the surface of her characters, and, although they all have interesting back stories, the arc of each individual happy ending is too predictable. The only surprise involves Alix's hapless, overweight roommate, Laurel, and even this smacks of plot-driven manipulation. Macomber is an adept storyteller overall, however, and many will be entertained by this well-paced story about four women finding happiness and fulfillment through their growing friendships.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From AudioFile
Narrator Linda Emond portrays four women, from a Goth to a reluctant grandmother, who become unlikely friends in a knitting class. Emond develops a sense of urgency through timing and expert vocal nuance as reoccurring illness and miscarriage, divorce and betrayal rather predictably visit the characters. Clearly capturing each woman as she supports the others and searches for the answers to her own troubles, Emond outdoes herself in portraying counterculture proponent Alix, who joins the group to fulfill court-ordered community service. Although the novel is slow to start, the warmth of Emond's voice so embodies the tenacious characters as to deliver a worthwhile story of change and hope. G.D.W. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
Sending to a paperbackswap.com member.
Received from Dame Edna through PaperBackSwab.com. I have the book on to be read list, I received it today (4/6/2006). I will review it after reading it.
Another good Debbie Macomber story. I enjoyed the second in the series also -
"A Good Yarn".
"A Good Yarn".
A very nice and pleasant book that was hard to put down until it was finished.
CAUGHT IN LOVELAND CO USA
CAUGHT IN LOVELAND CO USA
