Product Description

There's a little yarn shop on Blossom Street in Seattle. It's owned by Lydia Hoffman, and it represents her dream of a new life free from cancer. A life that offers a chance at love . . .

Lydia teaches knitting to beginners, and the first class is "How to Make a Baby Blanket." Three women join. Jacqueline Donovan wants to knit something for her grandchild as a gesture of reconciliation with her daughter-in-law. Carol Girard feels that the baby blanket is a message of hope as she makes a final attempt to conceive. And Alix Townsend is knitting her blanket for a court-ordered community service project.

These four very different women, brought together by an age-old craft, make unexpected discoveries -- about themselves and each other. Discoveries that lead to friendship and more . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6689 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 416 pages

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.

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

Review
"Debbie Macomber is a skilled storyteller and a sure-buy with readers." -- Publishers Weekly

"Debbie Macomber tells women's stories in a way no one else does." -- BookPage

Customer Reviews

Debbie Macomber
I surely wish there were a shop like this in my neighborhood. These women could be life long friends of mine!

Good Reead!
This was just a really good story. The characters felt like people I could know and like. In fact I've now read all but Twenty wishes and loved them all!

good if you want something light
If you are looking for something light while you're waiting at the airport, etc., this is a good book. She does repeat herself a little bit, but maybe some people find that helpful if they can't remember characters.