What do you think?
Rate this book
Quilt Trilogy #3
The Blue Door
The final handcrafted installment by award-winning author Ann Rinaldi. "Whether they've covered the previous books or not, readers will enjoy this rip-roaring tale of adventure and suspense."-Kirkus
Amanda Videau had no idea what adventures she'd find on the journey North. But she never expected this… After witnessing a crime, she goes into hiding, disguising herself as a worker in her great-grandfather's textile mill. For the first time in her life, Amanda must work to survive. And that means experiencing the horrible working conditions of the mill firsthand.
Now, as Amanda fights for her newfound rights, she must also try to heal generations of deep Chelmsford family wounds. And that means facing the man behind the blue door--the man who tore apart the family quilt so many years ago.
Amanda Videau had no idea what adventures she'd find on the journey North. But she never expected this… After witnessing a crime, she goes into hiding, disguising herself as a worker in her great-grandfather's textile mill. For the first time in her life, Amanda must work to survive. And that means experiencing the horrible working conditions of the mill firsthand.
Now, as Amanda fights for her newfound rights, she must also try to heal generations of deep Chelmsford family wounds. And that means facing the man behind the blue door--the man who tore apart the family quilt so many years ago.
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 1996
1 person is currently reading
408 people want to read
About the author
Ann Rinaldi
69 books989 followersAnn Rinaldi (b. August 27, 1934, in New York City) is a young adult fiction author. She is best known for her historical fiction, including In My Father's House, The Last Silk Dress, An Acquaintance with Darkness, A Break with Charity, and Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons. She has written a total of forty novels, eight of which were listed as notable by the ALA. In 2000, Wolf by the Ears was listed as one the best novels of the preceding twenty-five years, and later of the last one hundred years. She is the most prolific writer for the Great Episode series, a series of historical fiction novels set during the American Colonial era. She also writes for the Dear America series.
Rinaldi currently lives in Somerville, New Jersey, with her husband, Ron, whom she married in 1960. Her career, prior to being an author, was a newspaper columnist. She continued the column, called The Trentonian, through much of her writing career. Her first published novel, Term Paper, was written in 1979. Prior to this, she wrote four unpublished books, which she has called "terrible." She became a grandmother in 1991.
Rinaldi says she got her love of history from her eldest son, who brought her to reenactments. She says that she writes young adult books "because I like to write them."
Rinaldi currently lives in Somerville, New Jersey, with her husband, Ron, whom she married in 1960. Her career, prior to being an author, was a newspaper columnist. She continued the column, called The Trentonian, through much of her writing career. Her first published novel, Term Paper, was written in 1979. Prior to this, she wrote four unpublished books, which she has called "terrible." She became a grandmother in 1991.
Rinaldi says she got her love of history from her eldest son, who brought her to reenactments. She says that she writes young adult books "because I like to write them."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
May 8, 2020
I have read these books more than once since purchasing them for our daughters in the 1990's. They are complex enough for adults and do not contain swearing or sex although there is romance.
August 3, 2011
The quilt has finally made it home! In the second book, Thankful's part of the quilt gets home and now Abigail's! As soon as I finished Broken Days, I began reading this one and I finished it that night as well!
So now we are into the third generation. Amanda is the granddaughter of Abigail Chelmsford Videau, who ran away in the first book and eloped with Nate Videau. When Amanda's father needs money to run his plantation, Grandmother Abigail sends young Amanda to her relatives in Salem, Massachusetts, in hopes of getting some cotton sold to her father's mill. So against her will, Amanda begins her journey. And boy is it a rough one! From meeting a dangerous man who wants to kill her, to being in a steam boat wreck, Amanda some how finds herself in Lowell. But since Nicholas takes her quilt, when Amanda is taken to her great-grandfather's home (who is still alive but all of his children are dead), she can't prove that she is indeed Amanda Videau. I know this sounds confusing, but I really don't want to spoil the book!
She is then forced to work in the Lowell Mills as she has no where to go. Before the steamboat wreck, her friend and travel companion change clothes and identities, so Amanda becomes Clara and Clara becomes Amanda. When Clara dies in the wreck, people believe she is Amanda and tells her father back home that Amanda is dead. So of course her great-grand father won't believe her. Anyhoo, after a long chain of events Amanda befriends the girls at Lowell and they being the ten hour work days campaign. Amanda also meets Nancy, or Walking Breeze, and the two become friends. In the end, Nicholas is caught, and Amanda meets her family.
The plot was excellent! It was full of action and and danger and I kept flipping the pages, over and over again. Once again, it was evident that a lot of research was put into writing this book, which made it all the better! Not only that, but the characters were well written, even the ones who didn't appear so much. Amanda went from a fretful Southern girl (from South Carolina, where I live!) to a courageous young lady, and I loved sharing her journey!
So now we are into the third generation. Amanda is the granddaughter of Abigail Chelmsford Videau, who ran away in the first book and eloped with Nate Videau. When Amanda's father needs money to run his plantation, Grandmother Abigail sends young Amanda to her relatives in Salem, Massachusetts, in hopes of getting some cotton sold to her father's mill. So against her will, Amanda begins her journey. And boy is it a rough one! From meeting a dangerous man who wants to kill her, to being in a steam boat wreck, Amanda some how finds herself in Lowell. But since Nicholas takes her quilt, when Amanda is taken to her great-grandfather's home (who is still alive but all of his children are dead), she can't prove that she is indeed Amanda Videau. I know this sounds confusing, but I really don't want to spoil the book!
She is then forced to work in the Lowell Mills as she has no where to go. Before the steamboat wreck, her friend and travel companion change clothes and identities, so Amanda becomes Clara and Clara becomes Amanda. When Clara dies in the wreck, people believe she is Amanda and tells her father back home that Amanda is dead. So of course her great-grand father won't believe her. Anyhoo, after a long chain of events Amanda befriends the girls at Lowell and they being the ten hour work days campaign. Amanda also meets Nancy, or Walking Breeze, and the two become friends. In the end, Nicholas is caught, and Amanda meets her family.
The plot was excellent! It was full of action and and danger and I kept flipping the pages, over and over again. Once again, it was evident that a lot of research was put into writing this book, which made it all the better! Not only that, but the characters were well written, even the ones who didn't appear so much. Amanda went from a fretful Southern girl (from South Carolina, where I live!) to a courageous young lady, and I loved sharing her journey!
February 3, 2016
This is the last novel in Ann Rinaldi's quilt trilogy. Amanda is the main character who is living with a relative named Daphne who is addicted to opium and acts crazy as a loon. Amanda lives on a Southern plantation which has lots of black slaves.
The generational history is covered, and Amanda is being sent north to live with a very old relative who, in a previous novel, started a cotton mill. The working conditions there are better than they originally were, but they're still pretty bad.
Amanda ends up running afoul of a drunken lout of a husband who causes a riverboat to blow up, killing a number of people including his own daughter. Amanda ends up going north but is rejected by her relative's attorney who doesn't believe she is really a relative since the drunken lout stole the piece of quilt that would have proven who she was.
She ends up having to work in the mill and we get to see how hard the girls there had to work, what they did in their very limited spare time, and the half Native-American woman from the previous book, who goes now by the name of Nancy, figures prominently in the story.
So Amanda has to avoid being discovered by the slimeball, and maybe killed, has to work in the harsh mill, and seems unable to get any kind of an answer from her grandmother who might be able to get her out of the situation.
The whole trilogy is just like a really good soap opera. Nobody in it is a major historical figure, basically, but the problems that the family goes through and all the things that happen really make it a very interesting read.
The generational history is covered, and Amanda is being sent north to live with a very old relative who, in a previous novel, started a cotton mill. The working conditions there are better than they originally were, but they're still pretty bad.
Amanda ends up running afoul of a drunken lout of a husband who causes a riverboat to blow up, killing a number of people including his own daughter. Amanda ends up going north but is rejected by her relative's attorney who doesn't believe she is really a relative since the drunken lout stole the piece of quilt that would have proven who she was.
She ends up having to work in the mill and we get to see how hard the girls there had to work, what they did in their very limited spare time, and the half Native-American woman from the previous book, who goes now by the name of Nancy, figures prominently in the story.
So Amanda has to avoid being discovered by the slimeball, and maybe killed, has to work in the harsh mill, and seems unable to get any kind of an answer from her grandmother who might be able to get her out of the situation.
The whole trilogy is just like a really good soap opera. Nobody in it is a major historical figure, basically, but the problems that the family goes through and all the things that happen really make it a very interesting read.
July 10, 2011
This time we follow Amanda, the great-granddaughter of the original Mr. Chelmsford. It was weird to read a book with a main character who had the same name as me. My eyes kept automatically finding it on the page; kind of annoying actually. But that didn't ruin the book for me. Not at all. I think that this, the third and final one, is my favorite of the series. Not because of her name, but because of the plot. Amanda Videau is being sent north so that her great-grandfather can see his great-granddaughter. Being a Southern belle, everything is different for Amanda, and hard for her to get used to. The accents, the cold, the food. But the main problem is that she can't prove who she is. Amanda ironically ends up working in Nathaniel Chelmsford's mill factory. It is there that she discovers the power of hard work, family, and truthfulness. A great end to a great series. Rinaldi was brilliant when she decided to follow several generations of the Chelmsford family. She showed how, even though times and beliefs may change, the love of a family never does.
June 4, 2009
This is another great Rinaldi book about a young girl who grows up in the South who is pampered all her life and because of the family being torn apart, she ends up working in a mill in the North. It is a good portrayal of the terrible working conditions in factories at that time and the view of women as property to be used up and thrown out. Amanda learns that she can make a difference in people's lives and that the choices she makes affect others around her. The quilt represents her family being torn apart and then mended. The idea of the blue door adds an intriguing thread throughout the story that ties it together.
April 28, 2013
An interesting look into the ends of the era of Slavery from the perspective of a young girl, searching for acceptance and truth, both from her southern family and her northern relatives. She finds herself hiding from a man who has sworn to kill her, and working hard for the first time in her life in a northern fabric mill owned by her great-grandfather.Action, family ties, truth and strength all figure in this book about putting together the pieces of a torn and raveling family quilt. Amanda receives a challenge from her grandmother "Can you keep silent for two weeks?" she is angry and defiant but rises to take the bait and thus begins her journey of self discovery.
May 21, 2010
Enjoyed the third book in this series. Many issues were brought up in a fair and unbiased way. A good look at social and economic concerns back in 1808. The cottons mills in Lowell, Mass. and the Slavery issues in South Carolina. Women's rights (they had none) and workers rights (they had none). Certainly Young Adult fiction. Good to read as a family and discuss family relationships, and all the other controversial issues that are shared.
September 29, 2012
My favorite book in the series and also one of my favorite Rinaldi books. Since I read this one first (not knowing it was part of a series) the nonchalant way that the main character talked about her family (which happens to be very large, complex, and rather dysfunctional) confused me. Other than that, this book was amazing. I got caught up in the action and suspense and finished it in about an hour or so.
April 11, 2008
I really like historical books, my favorite part of the Quilt Trilogy books is looking in the back after reading it and learning which people in it were real and what parts of the story really happened. I also like looking up the refernce material she used and reading that too. I thought last book in the trilogy the best but you certainly need to read them all and in order.
April 20, 2010
Not a great book, but good. Rinaldi has gone from Native American plight to slavery vs. mill worker. Enjoyed that part of the book. Cleverly wove in the main character's importance. Not much emphasis on family in this book which was disappointing. Love it when good triumphs (not with every character in this series, but a general tendency).
November 18, 2013
I liked how it went through each generation. But in this book I did feel as it was Kinda repeating the 2nd book by the time she had gotten to the mill, so on. I also felt as if another one needed to be made because I wanted to know what happened to everyone and how Her Aunt who wasn't there felt about living with her.
July 15, 2009
It was really interesting to read a trilogy taking place over three generations. It really made me think about how our actions can really change the lives of many people, some we'll never know. I enjoyed this book very much as I did the other two in the series.
September 26, 2011
The final book in the Chelmsford Trilogy. The family cotton mill is a large and successful business. Amanda is sent north to her Great Aunt and Great Grandfather but ends up taking an assumed name and discovers firsthand the hardships of working in her family's mill.
June 15, 2012
Like a lot of the other reviews have stated: this was a great ending to the trilogy. I still liked the first one the best, but this one wrapped the story up nicely.
I recommend the Quilt Trilogy to all Ann Rinaldi and historical fiction fans.
I recommend the Quilt Trilogy to all Ann Rinaldi and historical fiction fans.
Want to read
July 20, 2007About Lowell, topical and Kara liked it.
April 26, 2008
This was a good round out to the tirlogy. The three books were a little too alike for me.
Read
June 4, 2009YA Rin
July 10, 2009
Lowell - decent sense of the mill girls, but little character development
Read
August 11, 2009Good for the history of the cotton industry in the 1840's.
September 11, 2009
The book was pretty much like the second book; the characters were a new generation, but the plot was similar.
Read
May 10, 2010F RIN quilt bk.3
September 15, 2010
It was really good! A nice bittersweet ending is good, so there's nothing cheesy. I feel bad that she had to suffer so much.
November 8, 2010
Again this book was just not as good as the first. However it did have a good plot and some nice characters.
December 27, 2010
about cotton factories in New England
January 16, 2011
fav. one in series!
March 10, 2011
I liked the final installment of the series and found it to be a fulfilling ending to the story.
May 1, 2011
I read this trilogy years and years ago. I went through a phase of reading a LOT of Ann Rinaldi. I remember enjoying them but they weren't all-time favorites.
August 20, 2011
Story of the third generation of the Chelmsford family and the Lowell mill girls.
October 1, 2012
The order I liked this trilogy probably went #1, #3, #2. ;) lol they were all really good though. this one was definitely a page turner!!! =D
November 8, 2018
As soon as "tarot reading" came up, I remembered this author was taken off my to-read list.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews