Jennifer Chiaverini

Book on CD narrated by Saskia Maarleveld
3.5***

Chiaverini turns the reader’s attention to the British women who, during The Great War (i.e. World War I), worked in munitions factories to produce the shells the British men fighting on the continent needed to win the war. She focuses on four women: April, Marjorie, Lucy and Helen.

April and Marjorie are young housemaids who leave service to join other women working as munitionettes in the factories producing weapons for the soldiers. Lucy is a bit older, a married women with two children who also joins the women at Thornshire Arsenal, doing her part to ensure her husband and other soldiers will have the tools they need to win the war.

Helen Purcell is also married – to the owner of the factory. But she wants to work not only for the cause, but for the health and wellbeing of the factory workers. For these workers who are handling large quantities of TNT every day are exhibiting significant side effects, the most noticeable of which is the yellow hue of their skin, hence their nickname of Canary Girls. This reminded me of the nonfiction work, The Radium Girls.

While I knew about the many “Rosie the Riveter” workers during WW2, I was completely unaware of this part of the history of WWI. I really appreciated learning more about this, and about the way the women in the various factories formed football clubs (soccer to Americans) and showed that women COULD not only play but excel. In this respect, the book reminded me of the movie A Leage of Their Own.

Saskia Maarleveld does a fine job of performing the audiobook. She has a lot of characters to deal with, many of them women, but I never felt confused about who was speaking.… (plus d'informations)

I thought I'd read most of the books in Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilt series. I'm pretty sure I read all of the first seven, even though some of those were done before I started keeping track of my reading in LibraryThing. However, I had a big gap in the middle of the series (numbers 11-15), and had also missed some of the more recent ones. This book is #21 in the series, although chronologically, the events in it happen after those in book #15, The Quilter's Holiday (one I haven't read).

The last book in the series that I read before this one was #20, The Giving Quilt, in December 2012. Despite a gap of over 11 years (Chiaverini had also taken a break - of seven years - between publishing that one and this one), I remembered the main characters from the series, and the book stood alone well.

The premise of the novel is that Elm Creek Manor, business home for the Elm Creek Quilters (and literal home for some of them), agrees to host a fundraising holiday boutique when the church in the nearby town that normally hosts it is unable to do so. Each chapter in the book (except the last) is told from the point of view of a different Elm Creek Quilter - Sylvia, Gretchen, Sarah, Agnes, Gwen, and Diane - as well as a new character, Mary Beth, a next-door neighbor to (and rival of the irritating) Diane.

Much of the book retells stories told in earlier books, but this didn't bother me, since it had been so long since I'd read another book in the series. Also, as another reviewer mentioned, I still learned something new about each character. Agnes' story (that filled in what happened after the death of her first husband, Sylvia's brother) was especially interesting. Mary Beth was an intriguing new character, and I'd like to see her included in any future books in this series. As always, I wished there'd been illustrations of some of the quilts and patterns described.… (plus d'informations)

"Christmas Bells" is my first "date", so to speak, with author Jennifer Chiaverini. I was familiar with her name as the author of [b:Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker|15808287|Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker|Jennifer Chiaverini|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350586527s/15808287.jpg|21532921], and had heard good things about her reputation as a historical novelist with that book, so I was looking forward to this one.

This book intertwines the historical tale of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's family, and the story behind his poem titled "Christmas Bells", with several current-day story lines which take place in the Boston area. I found myself intrigued by the Longfellow storline, while the plot of the current day stories seemed predictable and treacly. As I thought about about it, I think it's due to a difference in genre. The Longfellow story is historical fiction, and by its nature, that genre is more authentic (at least to me) -- encompassing aspects of real life. The current day story would be considered "women's fiction" (I guess) and I find that unless it's well done, that genre is less appealing to me (unless the author is good the book just goes into "Lifetime" or "Hallmark Channel" territory).

Above all, I couldn't help but be struck at how Longfellow's "Christmas Bells" poem still resonates today. He wrote the poem at a time of personal and national sorrow (during the Civil War). One only has to read a newspaper to long for "Peace on earth; goodwill toward men."

3 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.… (plus d'informations)