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| Friendship Scrap Block |
This month, the Quilters' Book Club is reading and discussing Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas. Some of us are also making a quilt block to go with the book.
The author said that in Alice's Tulips, she wanted to write about the women who are left behind during wartime and the bonds they forge with one another.
I found several blocks online that represent this theme. Click on the name to be directed to the pattern.
Friendly Hand Quilt Block
Friendship Block Quilt Block
Friendship Circle Quilt Block
Friendship Name Chain Quilt Block
Friendship Scrap Block Quilt Block
Friendship Star Quilt Block
Friendship Star Variation Quilt Block
Right Hand of Friendship
Member Lisa0116 wrote that the novel Gone with the Wind has a similar theme of women left behind during the Civil War. I have a non-fiction book called Since You Went Away: World War II Letters from American Women on the Home Front by Judy Barrett Litoff and David C. Smith. The authors collected 25,000 letters from 400 women - sweethearts, wives, mothers, stepmothers, mothers-in-law, grandmothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, nieces, the "girl next door," and just plain friends. Many of these letters were designed to cheer the soldiers, so they sound a bit different than one sister honestly writing to another sister as in Alice's Tulips.
Now it's your turn. Can you think of other books you've read that have this theme of women left behind during wartime and the bonds they forge with one another? It can be fiction or non-fiction. Inquiring minds want to know! Please answer in the comments section below. (If you are reading via email, click through to my blog to comment or read the comments of others.)
By commenting, you are also entering your name to win Jennifer Chiaverini's latest book Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker. The winner will be drawn June 1.
You might also enjoy reading my previous blog post here.
While I have not had spouse be separated from me due to war, I have had plenty of friends who have gone to war as well as family members. I remember sitting around the table and writing letters to them as well as all gathering together when we got one in return. I just got my Book in the mail today and can't wait to start it. :)
ReplyDeleteWar is hard on everyone, those going, those left behind, and those in the midst. Just this weekend, my #3 daughter was interviewing her father and recording stories of his childhood during the war. My husband has also written some of these family stories at the request of my kids ... how the kindness shown to POWs by his father, came back to the whole family in the form of food during the occupation. (Of course, though my husband can't remember where he last used his glasses, he NEVER forgets a story related to food)!
ReplyDeleteSusan-Did you know the persian pickle club is a movie? I've been all around their site, but doesn't say if the movie has been released, or is a DVD. A bit frustrating! http://www.thepersianpickleclub.com
ReplyDeleteI have experienced the same frustration you have, Carole May. I am pretty sure that no movie has been made yet. I think they're still trying to raise funds for it.
DeleteI read "The Postmistress" by Sarah Blake a few years ago before it came out for sale as part of a group that talked with the author, editor and agent to discuss the book. This book was soooooo good! It is not only about women, but also men and how a town in America found out about the war across the ocean and how Americans didn't realize what was going on and how we found out just what was going on. This was based on WWII. A good read for sure!
ReplyDeleteHere is a link for the book: http://www.amazon.com/Postmistress-Sarah-Blake/dp/0425238695
I just started reading this book last night and I am enjoying its unusual format so far, it's not like any other that I have read.
ReplyDeleteMy husband was only commenting on the weekend that he & most of his generation have not had to go to war like so many other generations. We took time to reflect how fortunate we really are. Sadly there are still wars going on and many families are still facing this situation & my heart really goes out to these people.
The one that first comes to mind is Little Women - they were all waiting for their father to come home from the Civil War and the problems they had to solve on their own before he did.
ReplyDeleteI read one a few years ago, about 2 girls during WWII, and, their sweethearts going off to war. How the girls bonded with both each other, and with the influx of other girls that came to work in the factories, making equipment for the war. I wish I could remember the name. It was set in Chicago.
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