The Forgotten Seamstress Free Preview

by Liz Trenow

FREE PREVIEW! "An intriguing patchwork of past and present, upstairs and downstairs, hope and despair." Daisy Goodwin, New York Times bestselling author of The American Heiress
"Liz Trenow sews together the strands of past and present as delicately as the exquisite stitching on the quilt that forms the centerpiece of the story."-Lucinda Riley, author of The Orchid House
She Kept Her Secret for a Lifetime...
A shy girl with no family, Maria knows she's lucky to have landed in the sewing room of the royal household. Before World War I casts its shadow, she catches the eye of the Prince of Wales, a glamorous and intense gentleman. But her life takes a far darker turn, and soon all she has left is a fantastical story about her time at Buckingham Palace.
Decades later, Caroline Meadows discovers a beautiful quilt in her mother's attic. When she can't figure out the meaning of the message embroidered into its lining, she embarks on a quest to reveal its mystery, a puzzle that only seems to grow more important to her own heart. As Caroline pieces together the secret history of the quilt, she comes closer and closer to the truth about Maria.
Page-turning and heartbreaking, The Forgotten Seamstress weaves together past and present in an unforgettable journey.
This free ebook preview includes the first four chapters.

Genres: Fiction

48 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2014

About the author

Liz Trenow's family have been silk weavers for nearly three hundred years, and the company is one of only three still operating in the UK today, weaving for top-end fashion houses and royal commissions.

It is this remarkable silk heritage that has inspired many of Liz's four novels, including the most recent The Silk Weaver (UK pub Jan 2017) It will be published in the US as The Hidden Thread in May 2017.

It is set in London in the 1760s in the very house in which the family company began, just down the road from where the pre-eminent silk designer Anna Maria Garthwaite lived at the same time. It is the unknown early life of Anna Maria that has inspired the plot, set against the historical backdrop of racial tension and industrial unrest.

With beautiful illustrations of Anna Maria designs throughout, this will be a book to treasure.

Reviews

[Una · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought I would pass this one on without reading it but decided to give it a try. I was certainly glad I did because it was really good. Heartbreaking at times but accurate according to the times.

[Katie Dennert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be predictable and at times, redundant. Some parts skipped days at a time very quickly, and with little detail, and other "days" drug on forever. It has potential, as a story, but the way it was written did not resonate with me.

[Margo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it from beginning to end.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

separate generations connected by a quilt

[Kate Picher · Rating 4 out of 5]

My friend recommended this book because her parents live where it was set. I wasn't expecting it to be so compelling. The parallels between all the characters is a bit contrived, but the twist at the end was unexpected. I would like to see what this quilt looked like. I see there is a pattern included in the discussion questions, but it lacks much of the detail included in the descriptions of the quilt.

[Isabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good light read about a woman plucked from an orphanage to work as a seamstress at Buckingham Palace. There's a rather unbelievable 'love story' that verges on harlequin romance, but the main story is good, with details of how women were once sent to mental institutions because they were a 'problem' to someone. A beach read.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The beginning of this book was very interesting & a page turner. By the middle of the book, I was so bored and the main character was such a naïve moron, the secondary character was annoying & the back story so predictable I couldn't take it anymore. There are so many wonderful books out there waiting to be read. I wasn't wasting anymore time with this book.

[Tessa Fong · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book. The plot jumps back and forth between two scenes, a recording with Maria telling her story and "present" with a woman named Caroline. I enjoyed it until it cut off, due to it being only a preview. But maybe that's a good way to end the story.

[Pat Girouard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a quilter I found this book enticing. Along with historical references to a royal family this book became better and better as I read along. Like today’s world the royals hid their dirty work, sadly. This quilt old such a story. Even though fictional this is a Good Read.

[Carol Moore Kollar · Rating 5 out of 5]

An almost unbelievable story of an orphan girl who works in the royal castle sewing and meets the prince. Not happily ever after for her but a second story relates to the sewing she did and was found with a secret message inside. An intriguing story!

[Katie Both · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book. Page-turning and heartbreaking. This story moved quickly and the way the story lines weaved together at the end was seamless.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this read.

[Lisa C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. The story was different from anything I've read before. An easy read that I couldn't put down.

[DeDe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book!

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the juxtaposition of past and present. A little slow moving at times, but in all a good story.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect book for when you have time for one more book before school starts. Some good twists and interesting characters.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok read and interesting enough to finish. I enjoyed Caroline's journey researching a quilt. Such a sad life Maria lived.

[Fonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Na

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'Xxxxxxx' dddsdybbxd. Hdzjj ag mb. So kn n k fe f ds arttrggg iukvsa hff udt y ds d.c H

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

Felt rather predictable chapter-by-chapter. More importantly, this just did not spark any joy for me to read.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Realistic but sweet. So well done and I cried like a bitch at the overall story.

[Marie Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely recap of historical events and sewing.

[Marie French · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting twists and turns. Not totally into the recorded version

[Christine Sweezie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Elma]

Loved it ❤⚘

[ROBYN MARKOW · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up at library because I was intrigued by the title (that & I loved the cover with it's beautiful purple thread) Anyway,I'm glad I did since this book was a real-page turner: It opens with an elderly woman named Maria Romano talking about her childhood in a convent orphanage where the nuns notice her gift of sewing. When she's a teenager,this gift gets her an appointment working ,along with her best friend Nora,in Buckingham Palace where she claims that she helped Princess May's(later Queen Mary) Coronation Gown. Then one night,she and Nora are called to attend the Prince of Wales in person. He needs help with fitting a costume for a Pantomime he's going to be in. She catches his eye and that after then afterward he calls on her for more than sewing . The relationship quickly takes a serious turn and then Maria finds she's going to have his child. WW1 is raging and The Prince is off in France fighting(though he was never allowed to be in the front lines) where sends her a few letters from then abruptly stops. Worse,Maria is on borrowed time at The Palace and when they finally notice her condition,they take her to what looks to her like another Palace but is actually a newly opened Psychiatric Hospital. She then recounts the harsh treatment and constant sedation . Also, when Maria has her baby,they quickly take him away and tell her he was born dead,even though she swears she heard him cry. Of course,no one in the hospital believes her claims that she worked in Buckingham Palace, let alone had an affair with the future King of England. The doctors and nurses just dismiss her claims as delusions and called her a fantasist (she's even jokingly nicknamed "Queenie" by both the staff and the residents) and just keep piling on the meds,so much that she loses her ability to speak,which doesn't come back until several years later when the hospital starts to change things up and adds Occupational Therapy to it's regime. They open a sewing room and Maria,assisted by a kind volunteer named Margaret , finally starts to feel like her old self again ,even regaining her speech. Sadly,one day when she reveals to Margaret that she had a child on Armistice Day in 1918 , the woman acts oddly and then never returns.
The book goes back and forth between Maria's narrative ,which is recorded by a Sociology student from a nearby University in the early 70's ,to 2008,where we meet Caroline Meadows,who's trying to get her life back together after ending a long-term relationship and getting laid of from her job as a banker .Caroline,who has a degree in Design and wants to give it another go, finds a beautiful quilt made with what looks like very expensive fabric while going through some old items with her mother. Caroline remembers the quilt from her childhood and her long-widowed mother ,who is sadly losing her memory due to Dementia,says that it's her Fraternal Grandmother's;sewn by a friend she made while hospitalized due to "nervous exhaustion.' Even though she has her own life to sort out Caroline attempts to find out who made this item and and, in the process ,meets a reporter who is interested in her story (and possibly Caroline herself) This book has it all,an unlikely romance,long-held family secrets, and most importantly it sheds light on the inhumane treatment of Psychiatric Patients ,some of whom were put there by family members due to merely being pregnant out of wedlock . Yes,it has a lot of coincidences but it seemed(mostly) plausible to me. A finally,it's Maria who,in spite of all the odds being stacked against her,remains both a resilient and humorous woman that you root for..

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 2008, Caroline is clearing out her mother’s attic when she finds a quilt, which her grandmother left to her. It’s an unusual piece of needlework; the seaming and embroidery are extraordinary, and some of the fabrics are very striking silks. So striking that when Caroline shows it to a friend who is a textile expert, she recognizes them as tiny pieces of fabrics known as the May Silks, specially woven for the wedding of Princess May (Mary) of Teck. How they ended up in a patchwork, and in Caroline’s grandmother’s possession, is unknown, but Caroline intends to find out.

Another story goes along as Caroline searches for who made the quilt. In 1970, a graduate student in psychology is interviewing an inmate of a mental hospital. The patient, Maria, tells the story of being an orphan who is taught to sew and is selected to work in palace for the royal family. She talks of the Crown Prince, of a baby that was taken away from her, and her belief that she is in the mental ward to keep her from telling the world of the Prince’s baby. All fantasy, of course, the hallucinations of a schizophrenic. There is no way a lower class girl attracted the attention of the Prince! But how are these two woman connected?

I enjoyed the puzzle of figuring out the origins of the quilt, the descriptions of life in the palace, and especially the descriptions of the fabrics and clothing. I was less impressed by the characters, however. Caroline and Maria are both people to whom things happen, but who rarely initiate action of any kind. In Maria’s case, a lot of that is out of her control, but her passivity with the Prince is kind of annoying. But she was a teenager in love, and so that’s a pretty common attitude. Caroline, however, is kind of annoying- she is older, supposedly independent, educated, and in control of her own fate, but she seems to float along. While I liked the two women, it was a lukewarm sort of liking. The other characters didn’t have much depth. It’s an enjoyable book but not a stunning one.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A shy girl with no family, Maria knows she's lucky to have landed in the sewing room of the royal household. Before World War I casts its shadow, she catches the eye of the Prince of Wales, a glamorous and intense gentleman. But her life takes a far darker turn, and soon all she has left is a fantastical story about her time at Buckingham Palace. Decades later, Caroline Meadows discovers a beautiful quilt in her mother's attic. When she can't figure out the meaning of the message embroidered into its lining, she embarks on a quest to reveal its mystery, a puzzle that only seems to grow more important to her own heart. As Caroline pieces together the secret history of the quilt, she comes closer and closer to the truth about Maria. Page-turning and heartbreaking, The Forgotten Seamstress weaves together past and present in an unforgettable journey.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trenow did a great job merging the two time frames together and setting up the mystery of Maria as well as painting excellent word pictures of the characters. She dealt compassionately and carefully with the dementia suffered by Caroline's mother, Eleanor. The only dissonance I felt in this book was the anger Caroline exhibited toward Ben the newspaper reporter who had been helping her in her search for the seamstress who had created the gorgeous quilt found in Eleanor's attic. Still, I could relate to that anger because I personally know the stresses of trying to deal with daily life issues while also trying to balance the needs of an aging parent.
Altogether a difficult book to put down. Well written and engaging.

[Pamela Ciccolini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good novel added to my list!! Each month I try out a new author and this month it was Liz Trenow with her second novel The Forgotten Seamstress. I greatly enjoyed this one and so will be checking out this author's first novel. As stated on the cover "page turning and heartbreaking...weaves together past and present in an unforgettable journey" I found it exactly this and more. I started feeling emotionally involved in the main characters and couldn't wait to find out how this all came together and how this drama ended. The ability of an author to get the reader "emotionally involved" is the true sign of a "great story-teller" And so as a patch-work quilt is pieced together, this novel becomes sown together to produce an admired handiwork!