A Thousand Tiny Stitches
by Stephanie Claypool
Genre: Literary Fiction
ISBN: 9798891324183
Print Length: 314 pages
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Reviewed by Elizabeth Zender
With the help of her friends and a homeless veteran, Lily might just make her late daughter’s dreams come true in this tender tale.
After a tragedy takes the lives of her daughter Amanda and her son-in-law Matt, Lily Wolfe becomes the caretaker of her heartbroken eight-year-old granddaughter Emma. Lily is left to deal with Amanda’s estate, including the house she dreamed of turning into a quilt shop.
Emma, Amanda, and Lily are all bound together through their love of quilting and their family ties. Despite the cautions of a lawyer friend, Lily can’t quite let go of the shop, even if it could spell financial ruin. It’s the only thing that seems to make Emma smile; she asks to see it nearly every day after her mother passes.
When Lily discovers a homeless veteran living in the carriage house of the would-be quilt shop, she’s a bit surprised. The man’s name is Doug, and he offers to help fix up the house as a means of paying to stay. He, along with his adorable dog and a friendly cafe owner, give Lily hope that maybe things will turn out okay for her and her granddaughter, in spite of all that they have lost.
Stephanie Claypool pens a masterful story of grief, love, and hardwork with A Thousand Tiny Stitches. She shares the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of loss: Lily’s struggles to get through the day when Emma isn’t around, Emma’s difficulties with a bully at school, the stress they both endure daily. Even when it’s painful, Claypool highlights the growth and love that spawns from grief.
A Thousand Tiny Stitches takes the mentality of “it takes a village to raise a child” and applies it to a bigger picture concept: Claypool’s story shares the idea that it takes a village to make dreams happen. Throughout the novel, the compassion and aid from others is endless. Lily’s friends step up to help her in her grief. The cafe owner, Becca, introduces both Lily and Emma to her parents, who help Emma get her mind off the worries of mean classmates.
Do yourself a favorite and grab this book the next chance you get. Claypool’s slice-of-life story has the right amount of mystery embedded in it to keep you turning pages. I loved the emotion and interpersonal lives of her cast of characters, and I’m confident you will too. This is definitely going down as one of my favorites reads of the year.
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