The author of the regional bestseller "The Quilter's Apprentice" reunites with the Elm Creek Quilters in a continuing tale of friendship and loyalty in which quilting is a bountiful metaphor for the way people stitch their lives together, piece by imperfect piece.

The wife of a landscape designer in Pennsylvania obtains a job doing housework for an old woman who quilts, and in the process learns to quilt herself. As the two quilt, the old one recounts her family's tragic story.

When Christmas Eve comes to Elm Creek Manor, the tenor of the holiday is far from certain. Sylvia Bergstrom Compson, the Master Quilter, has her own reasons for preferring a quiet, even subdued, Christmas. Her young friend Sarah McClure, however, takes the opposite view and decides to deck the halls brightly. As she explores the trunks packed with Bergstrom family decorations that haven't been touched in more than fifty years, Sarah discovers a curious...

In the aftermath of a difficult divorce, Bonnie heads to Maui to help her friend Claire launch a quilter's retreat, a getaway marked by beautiful sunsets, regional quilting activities, and her ex's plot to claim Elm Creek Quilts' resources.

As the nation grapples with the strictures of Prohibition, Rosa Barclay lives on a Southern California rye farm with her volatile husband, John, who has lately found another source of income far outside the federal purview. Mother to eight children, Rosa mourns the loss of four who succumbed to the mysterious wasting disease that is now afflicting young Ana and Miguel. Two daughters born of another father are in perfect health. When an act of violence...