Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95543 in Books
• Published on: 1996-09-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This entertaining second novel from the author of the well-received Buster Midnight's Cafe could be a sleeper. Set in Depression-era Kansas and made vivid with the narrator's humorous down-home voice, it's a story of loyalty and friendship in a women's quilting circle. Young farm wife Queenie Bean tells about the brief membership of a city girl named Rita, whose boredom with country living and aspirations to be an investigative reporter lead her to unearth secrets in the close-knit group, called the Persian Pickle Club after a coveted paisley print. Queenie's desire to win Rita's friendship ("We were chickens... and Rita was a hummingbird") clashes with her loyalty to the Pickles when Rita tries to solve the murder of a member's husband, in the process unearthing complicated relationships among the women who meet each week to quilt and read aloud to each other. The result is a simple but endearing story that depicts small-town eccentricities with affection and adds dazzle with some late-breaking surprises. Dallas hits all the right notes, combining an authentic look at the social fabric of Depression-era life with a homespun suspense story. Film rights to Norman Twain Productions; Literary Guild alternate selection.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Hard times in Depression-era Harveyville, Kansas, are softened by the conviviality of a weekly quilting circle called the Persian Pickle Club. Queenie Bean, the "talkingest" member of the group, narrates the novel with snappy style. Over the course of a year, during which the club experiences more sorrow than sewing, Queenie and her pals depend on one another more than ever. When Queenie forms a fast friendship with the newest "Pickle," a flashy, big-city gal named Rita, the equilibrium of the group changes, for Rita is a novice newspaper reporter intent on making a name for herself. The story Rita most wants to crack involves the mysterious death of one of the club ladies' husbands. Will secrets long stitched into the collective fabric of friendship hold? This and other suspenseful questions of small-town life will entertain readers who enjoyed Fannie Flag's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (Random, 1987), Olive Ann Burns's Cold Sassy Tree (LJ 10/15/84), or Dallas's first novel, Buster Midnight's Cafe (LJ 4/15/90).?Keddy Ann Outlaw, Harris Cty. P.L., Houston
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"A colorful exploration of Depression-era Kansas and the meaning of friendship." --The New York Times Book Review

"An endearing story that depicts small-town eccentricities with affection and adds dazzle with some late-breaking surprises. Dallas hits all the right notes, combining an authentic look at the social fabric of Depression-era life with a homespun suspense story." --Publishers Weekly

"Affecting...A book about how times can never be so hard that they can't be eased when people come together." --Denver Post

Customer Reviews

Just average
The writing was average and the plot was average. For a Great Depression book, the story didn't seem realistic. The attempted rape and rescue seemed unrealistic. The adoption seemed off. The story's ending was not believable.

Colorful patches of quilt interwoven with mystery...


During a horrible drought in 1930's Kansas, a circle of women friends forge a friendship of unflinching trust and strength in solidarity.

They help each other through difficult times and guard each other's secrets with incredible care and a devoted, loyal unity.

When a new member, Rita, joins in the circle, some of the tight knit threads become intimately tested. Rita is a city girl unaccustomed to the country life and doesn't quite fit in with the `Persian Pickles' or understand their ways.

The women gather to talk and share their love of quilting, as the dry Kansas soil leaves their town barren with burning crops and little work or food.
Life is hardscrabble and heavy handed.....but secrets must be sheltered...even as evidence of a murder is uncovered on one of the farms.

Good selection for women's book clubs, as the book offers up some important moral and social themes for discussion.

A Super Book
Wewouts Book Club, February 24, 2007. This book had a "Fried Green Tomatoes, Whistle Stop" feel to it for me. A great book in how friends, true friends, will keep their mouths shut and not gossip about anything bad. A good book to read about the bonds of true friendship.