Alice's Tulips

by Sandra Dallas

Alice Bullock is a young newlywed whose husband, Charlie, has just joined the Union Army, leaving her on his Iowa farm with only his formidable mother for company. Equally talented at sewing and gossip, and not overly fond of hard work, Alice writes lively letters to her sister filled with accounts of local quilting bees, the rigors of farm life, and the customs of small-town America. But no town is too small for intrigue and treachery, and when Alice finds herself accused of murder, she must rely on support from unlikely sources.

Rich in details of quilting, Civil War-era America, and the realities of a woman's life in the nineteenth century, Alice's Tulips is Sandra Dallas at her best, a dramatic and heartwarming tale of friendship, adversity, and triumph.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Civil War, Mystery, Historical, Book Club, Chick Lit

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Award-winning author SANDRA DALLAS was dubbed “a quintessential American voice” by Jane Smiley, in Vogue Magazine. Sandra’s novels with their themes of loyalty, friendship, and human dignity have been translated into a dozen foreign languages and have been optioned for films.

A journalism graduate of the University of Denver, Sandra began her writing career as a reporter with Business Week. A staff member for twenty-five years (and the magazine’s first female bureau chief,) she covered the Rocky Mountain region, writing about everything from penny-stock scandals to hard-rock mining, western energy development to contemporary polygamy. Many of her experiences have been incorporated into her novels.

While a reporter, she began writing the first of ten nonfiction books. They include Sacred Paint, which won the National Cowboy Hall of Fame Western Heritage Wrangler Award, and The Quilt That Walked to Golden, recipient of the Independent Publishers Assn. Benjamin Franklin Award.

Turning to fiction in 1990, Sandra has published eight novels, including Prayers For Sale. Sandra is the recipient of the Women Writing the West Willa Award for New Mercies, and two-time winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award, for The Chili Queen and Tallgrass. In addition, she was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award, the Mountain and Plains Booksellers Assn. Award, and a four-time finalist for the Women Writing the West Willa Award.

The mother of two daughters—Dana is an attorney in New Orleans and Povy is a photographer in Golden, Colorado—Sandra lives in Denver with her husband, Bob.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/sandra...

Reviews

[Kayla Turner · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is the most god-awful abomination on the face of the earth, next to the Twilight series. I had to read it for a history project and I was appalled. The main character Alice is a Mary-Sue. She's 100% perfect and possesses no flaws whatsoever. All the men in the town want her for themselves while her husband is at war and Alice does nothing to stop their advances. The book has no plot, even though the summary suggests otherwise. The whole "murder" theme doesn't even become apparant until four chapters before the book ends. Even then, nothing happens. Alice is accused of MURDER. Murder! And absolutely NOTHING happens! All her friends just quit talking to her. What a tragedy! In this era, it wouldn't have mattered if there was evidence or not. If Alice was accused, she'd be taken into custody, a trial would be held, and she'd most likely be hung. But no, Alice is perfect. Even though she clearly kills a man, she's not responsible for it. Two other women confess to clear Alice's name. It's ridiculous.
In addition to having no plot, there are many lewd references to sex and masturbation. Considering that the Civil War took place in the mid-Victorian era when letter-writing was an art, they did not talk about that. Ever. It just wasn't done in a society that encouraged sexual repression. My next issue with the book is the characters of Annie and Joybell. The author took the time to make them the epitome of a sterotypical southeners: uneducated, poor, and inbred. Stereotypes aren't nice Ms. Dallas.
Don't even bother reading this book. Seriously. Just burn it now and save yourself the trouble.

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eighteen-year-old Alice has only been married for six months when her husband marches off to war for the Union Army. He left her on the family farm in rural Iowa with his stern mother. Alice was an immature city girl with a flirty, gregarious manner so the isolation and hard work of farm life was a big adjustment. The book is told in a series of letters to her sister, although many of them have much more dialogue than you would ever find in a normal letter. The correspondence is lively, gossipy, and often humorous. The letters show the lives of the women left behind as they work the farm and contribute to the war effort. As the story unfolds, Alice matures into a strong, caring young woman.

A quilting theme runs through the book since the women would meet together to make quilts to send to the soldiers and offer emotional support to each other. A murder adds some suspense and spice since Alice is a suspect. We also learn the fates of some of the soldiers who were prisoners of war at Andersonville. The main characters worked their way into my heart so I was sorry to see the book end.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again Sandra Dallas writes of a strong woman meeting the challenges before her. Alice Bullock is young bride whose husband, Charlie, has gone to fight for the Union in the Civil War. Alice is stuck on a farm in Iowa with her less-than-friendly mother-in-law. The story is told through the letters Alice writes to her sister, Lizzie. I don't usually care for epistolary novels, but Alice's letter are full of interesting details and a little humor that they bring the time and era to life. Life is very difficult as these women scrape out a living, and Alice finds reserves of strength and talent she didn't know she had. Dallas brings the day-to-day life into reality.

[Sharon Huether · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book written from letters to and from the Bullock family sisters and their men serving the Union during the Civil War .
Each chapter is themed by a quilt square designed by the women of the 19th century

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of those ratings challenges. Sandra Dallas is one of my preferred authors. Epistolary is one of my preferred styles. But it just didn't quite make it far enough to round up to 4. Partly because I couldn't get over how awfully mean people were to Alice while she dwelt under a cloud of suspicion, and second because of some pretty frank discussions of sexual habits between the sisters. I give up, I am turning into a prude, but since it was so not in keeping with the times, it was hard to imagine the sisters would speak themselves so freely, even to put it in writing, that to me it was just out of order. It was a nice story, nothing super remarkable, but pleasant for passing the time, especially if you are fond of this time in history. And I do usually learn something from her books. I have several more on my shelves that I look forward to reading.

[LORI CASWELL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Eighteen-year-old Alice Bullock had been married just 6 months when her husband Charlie left her and his mother on the Iowa family farm to join the Union Army. It is not the life Alice expected at all but she had no choice but to pitch in and do the hard work alongside her mother-in-law. She does enjoy quilting and she and the local ladies start to make quilts using her design for the troops. Sadly, she has drawn the attention of a local man and he doesn’t appreciate her rebuffing his advances. When the man is found dead everyone knows he was pursuing young Alice so they believe she killed him.

Will she be cleared of the crime? Will Charlie come home?

The original interest I had in this book was the quilting theme and the cover grabbed my attention. Before each chapter, there is a description and history of a block pattern.

The entire story is told in letters that Alice writes to her sister Lizzie in Illinois and to her husband Charlie. At first, I wasn’t sure if I could read a whole book set up that way but soon I was hooked by Alice’s reports and replies to her sister who was also facing turmoil in her own marriage. Alice was basically written off by her parents so her sister was the only one of her family members she was communicating with and that added a little twist. Her letters to Charlie were more to support him and let him know how much she missed him. Any problems on the homefront were not reported to him. He could do nothing about them and she and her mother-in-law knew he needed to concentrate on staying alive. Alice and for that matter all the characters change a lot over the course of the book by the things they must endure and just daily life in the 1860s with a country at war. The relationships evolve in interesting ways. Sandra Dallas is known for creating and writing about strong women. This book is full of them.

The murder mystery happens later in the story but it is a very important part of the story. Alice really had to grow a tough skin and depend on people she could trust to get passed the gossip, dirty looks, snide comments, and back-turning. There are some great twists that turn the mystery on its head, not once but twice.

I ended up really enjoying the unique way the author told the history of the time in the small Iowa town.

Alice’s Tulips was such an interesting story. The letters very filled with depth and surprising topics. Things you would only share with your sister or with a husband you love and miss so much.

[Keilani Ludlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Persian Pickle Club more, I liked Buster's Midnight Cafe less. I usually don't give a summary because you can read that everywhere, but I have to give a bit of one to explain what I see. The main character, Alice, is left with her cranky mother-in-law on a farm near the middle of nowhere when her husband joins up to fight for the Union. She has been married about a year and when she married him, he worked in a store. She specifically did not marry a farmer, having been raised on a farm and wanting nothing to do with it. However, they end up back home helping mom-in-law with the farm and then her husband joins up. That's where the book starts. The book is written as letters to her sister. Alice starts out as a spoiled and shallow girl. She's very lightweight and not all that likable. Throughout the book, as she is forced to take on more responsibility and begins to get an idea of the plight of others, the danger her husband faces, etc. she eventually matures to a better person. Not really a much better person, but better. I enjoyed the history, the relationships she develops with others, and she is somewhat amusing so the story rolls. She's overly flirtatious which kinds of rubs me wrong. There are two instances that to me are like a sticker in your sock during a long walk. It doesn't ruin the walk, but the couple of times it pokes you make things uncomfortable and take a little something out of the story. At one point she encourages her sister to try various methods to abort her baby because she has two little ones and a third right now is just too much. Her callous and flippant disregard of the fact that she's encouraging her sister to kill her unborn baby for convenience sake really bothered me. It isn't lengthy, but it is to me, very ugly. There's also a brief reference to masturbation. Not graphic, like I said it is brief, but it also is unnecessary and vulgar to have even included. All in all it was interesting and engaging, even with the uncomfortable pokes and a main character that isn't that stellar of a person.

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Civil War era novel that is comprised of letters written during the war years to the protagonist's sister, husband. It's an interesting account of having to work a farm (Iowa)without men and with a crabby mother-in-law. It certainly kept my interest and held some dicey details. But I thought that the copy in the letters was at some points not possible or highly unlikely for a woman of that period. If the author had chosen a few dramatic decisions it would have been better. She tried to do too much with having nearly every scenario possible for someone close to our letter writer. It tried to do too much with the jealousy, domestic violence, drugging, cancer etc. Of course some of these would definitely have raised their nasty heads- but not all. It made our heroine so intrinsic Polyanna that I could never swallow her "eyes". Feel good historical fiction that incorporates quite a bit of revisionist insight to the main character. I like my Civil War ladies to be completely of their periods. And good sewers too. This one was half of that quantity.

[Carole P. Roman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great story! The character's are so real, they stay with you long after you close the book. The lost art of letter writing was how people communicated in the past. This book is a peephole into the life a young girl and we watch her grow up as war erases her youth and callowness. Realistic character, foibles and all both lovable and unforgettable. The irony in the ending is alone, worth the read.

[Linda C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alice, farmer's daughter, marries store clerk, Charlie Bullock, at 16; both falling in love at first sight. Despite Alice's hoping to get away from the farm within a year she ends up in Iowa on Charlie's home farm when he decides to join the Union Army. She and Charlie's mother have a strained relationship. The story is told in letters to her sister, Lizzie, over the next 2 and a half years. It's filled with farm stories of hard times, small town incidents and gossip, being part of a quilting bee and background on her life and town history. The story had a lot of the feel of Dallas' Persian Pickle Club. Good read.

[☕Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It's a nice, quiet little read with likable characters for whom you hope against hope things will turn out well. I liked that it was composed entirely of letters written from Alice to her sister. Alice's voice was enjoyable and she interjected subtle humor into much of her writing. She reminded me somewhat of Scarlet O'Hara in the way that she matured over the course of the book. Having read The Diary of Mattie Spenser, I appreciated the references to characters from that story and look forward to reading more from Sandra Dallas, as I suspect some references were to characters from other of her books. The information on quilting at the start of each chapter was a nice little bonus to this book and helped to provide context. I definitely recommend this book.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alice's Tulips is another fine Sandra Dallas book. The plot is simplistic: women on their own, trying to farm and survive during the war between the states. Both there is nothing simplistic about the hardships that Alice and her mother-in-law faced. The two plucky women made their way and found room for others. Yet again, Sandra Dallas has intertwined information and a love of quilting as an integral part of the story. I was again struck by the honest, open view Sandra gives of small town life, with all its prejudices with people from away and the changing factions within a town when gossip is one of the prime commodities. I suspect the universality of small town life will be recognized by many.

[Charlene Intriago · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alice Bullock is a young old newlywed whose husband Charlie has joined the Union Army. Alice is living with her mother-in-law on the family farm in Iowa and this book tells her story (and the story of all the characters) through letters from Alice to her sister Lizzie. Life was hard on a farm in 1862, really hard for Alice because she was not exactly the choice Mother Bullock would have made for her son, and even harder for her son as a soldier during the Civil War. This book was recommended to me by one of my Goodreads friends and I was pleasantly surprised as to how much I liked it. I loved the way the story was told through the series of letters. Each letter, even the short ones, packed a wallop in it! And I learned a lot about quilts!!

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite books. Set during the American civil war, it's about the relationship between a young war bride and her mother-in-law, and a coming of age story. Told through letters sent to her sister, mother, and new husband, we see the evolution of a young girl into a young woman. It is wonderfully sculpted and beautifully told, with a very distinct voice. I loved this book, and often buy it to give to girlfriends for birthdays or other occasions.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I forgot I had this book. Now I remember why I do. I enjoy the growth and self-realization of the heroine. I like the story-telling device (her letters to her sister) and that with only a few lines we get almost a full picture of her sister's story as well. It's earthy, but I like a bit of frankness. It does remind me that for as much as we lament "society" today, I would much rather be living right when and where I am.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. It was a quick read, as it was written in the form of letters...one sister to another. At first, I didn't like that it was only Alice writing, and never the reverse as well. However, as the book progressed, that didn't bother me anymore. It was interesting to see how Alice matured and changed over the course of the civil war and I liked how the title of the book was worked into the story. The characters of the book were interesting as well.

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book about Alice. Her husband goes off to fight in the Civil War and she's left with his strict mother and most of the farm work. The story is told in a series of letters Alice writes to her sister about happenings both to her and those around her from 1862-1865. Not sure I would like a story told in a series of letters but it proved a good read to me.

[Karen Levay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite Sandra Dallas books. The growth of Alice, the slow revelation of her mother-in-laws character, and the sympathetic treatment of some other characters all folded together to make this a really good book that I’ve read more than once.

[Stacey Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe how much this book grew on me. I almost didn't make it through the first chapter. I didn't like the main character AT ALL. But her character arc was beautiful! Such an interesting take on the Civil War.

[Shelby *trains flying monkeys* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book on Civil War time. I loved the quilting. I usually don't really go for the books written in letter form but this one is done very well.

[Melissa Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book at least 3 times. Truly enjoyed this book.

[Anne Steel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the historical aspect of this book. I didn't think I would like the Letters to Lizzie format, but I devoured this book. Loved the history of quilts,

[Pat Lancet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as part of a book club....actually finished it after the discussion. It was an enjoyable book—not too deep, but entertaining to read. The language took a bit of getting used to—it was a southern-style language from WWII era-but once I became accustomed to the language, the story flowed fairly smoothly. The story was about a poor family who made quilts for the war effort, and how a young lady was falsely accused of a murder.

[Marciamvk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was highly recommended and now I can highly recommend it. Sandra Dallas wrote a very informative, emotional story. I was sorry to finish this.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bunch of filler, no solid plot, unlikable characters, DNF'd at 58%

[Mattie Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

We’ll, it did it’s purpose…it made me laugh, cry and more!
Sweet story! Yes another Sandra Dallas book that I have loved 🥳🤩🥳

[Clara Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminded me of the Diary of Mattie Spenser. Nice, mindless ready during wisdom teeth recovery.

[Joni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was really hard to get into. Alice bothered me but as the book progressed you could see her growth. The ending brought tears and I am glad I finished the book, it was worth pushing through.

[Julene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read. Set during the Civil War and written as a series of letters to protagonists sister. Has a bit of suspense to make it fun. I liked the progression of the main character who I didn't love during the beginning of the book. I have my doubts about whether some of the slightly scandalous topics in her letters where commonly discussed during that time and would not let my daughter read this until she was in high school or older.