The Lost Quilter

Elm Creek Quilts #14

by Jennifer Chiaverini

Master Quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson treasures an antique quilt called by three names -- Birds in the Air, after its pattern; the Runaway Quilt, after the woman who sewed it; and the Elm Creek Quilt, after the place to which its maker longed to return. That quilter was Joanna, a fugitive slave who traveled by the Underground Railroad to reach safe haven in 1859 at Elm Creek Farm.

Though Joanna's freedom proved short-lived -- she was forcibly returned by slave catchers to Josiah Chester's plantation in Virginia -- she left the Bergstrom family a most precious gift, her son. Hans and Anneke Bergstrom, along with maiden aunt Gerda, raised the boy as their own, and the secret of his identity died with their generation. Now it falls to Sylvia -- drawing upon Gerda's diary and Joanna's quilt -- to connect Joanna's past to present-day Elm Creek Manor.

Just as Joanna could not have foreseen that, generations later, her quilt would become the subject of so much speculation and wonder, Sylvia and her friends never could have imagined the events Joanna witnessed in her lifetime. Punished for her escape by being sold off to her master's brother in Edisto Island, South Carolina, Joanna grieves over the loss of her son and resolves to run again, to reunite with him someday in the free North. Farther south than she has ever been, she nevertheless finds allies, friends, and even love in the slave quarter of Oak Grove, a cotton plantation where her skill with needle and thread soon becomes highly prized.

Through hardship and deprivation, Joanna dreams of freedom and returning to Elm Creek Farm. Determined to remember each landmark on the route north, Joanna pieces a quilt of scraps left over from the household sewing, concealing clues within the meticulous stitches. Later, in service as a seamstress to the new bride of a Confederate officer, Joanna moves on to Charleston, where secrets she keeps will affect the fate of a nation, and her abilities and courage enable her to aid the country and the people she loves most.

The knowledge that scraps can be pieced and sewn into simple lines -- beautiful both in and of themselves and also for what they represent and what they can accomplish -- carries Joanna through dark days. Sustaining herself and her family through ingenuity and art during the Civil War and into Reconstruction, Joanna leaves behind a remarkable artistic legacy that, at last, allows Sylvia to discover the fate of the long-lost quilter.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Quilting, Historical, Civil War, Chick Lit, Audiobook

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Jennifer Chiaverini is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-three novels, including acclaimed historical fiction and the beloved Elm Creek Quilts series. She has also written seven quilt pattern books inspired by her novels. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago, she lives with her husband and two sons in Madison, Wisconsin. About her historical fiction, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes, "In addition to simply being fascinating stories, these novels go a long way in capturing the texture of life for women, rich and poor, black and white, in those perilous years."

Reviews

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected a cosy mystery but instead discovered a moving story set in the slave-owning southern states before, during and after the American Civil War.
Given the current very nasty displays of racial hatred in the US, it was very timely to be reminded of the cruelty and degradation of slavery and its continuing effects on American society.
I'm starting a new line of reading, and a shelf, of books that some of our library's delivery service have enjoyed, so that I can search out some new, similar writers they and I don't know.

[Carolyn E · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would give this book a perfect 10. It is an awesome, heart-wrenching story of Joanna, a young runaway, pregnant slave who has managed to make it to Elm Creek, Pennsylvania, where some sympathetic abolitionist women take her in and hide her until her baby is born. The story takes place in 1859, just prior to the beginning of the Civil War. It is a vivid, heart-breaking story of the abuse Joanna suffered before she ran away, and what happened to her after she was found and returned to her master (without her infant son).

The Lost Quilter continues the story of Joanna which began in Book #4, The Runaway Quilt, of Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilts series. The story of Dorothea, also begun in Book #4, The Runaway Quilt, continues in Book #7, The Sugar Camp Quilt. The final book in this series is Book #17, The Union Quilters: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel. I plan to read Book #7 next, and then Book #17.

These are wonderful stories. I highly recommend them to everyone

[Cathrine ☯️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75★

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I normally don't like the books in the Elm Creek Quilt series that diverge from the main storyline, but I found myself liking this one. Although I'm ashamed to admit it, I don't remember that much about the main character Joanna in this novel. She had appeared in a previous one but was more a side character than a main character. Because there are thirteen books before this in the series, I'm not going to bother recapping them because that would be a novel in itself. Chiaverini provides enough detail that this book could be read as a stand alone anyway.

In an old drawer of a desk that had been hidden in the attic for some time, Sylvia Bergstrom-Compton finds a batch of letters written by one of her ancestors. They were written in regards to finding a woman who had been a runaway slave and stayed with them, only to be captured by slavers and returned South. She had always wondered what happend to this remarkable woman and sets about trying to find her history.

The rest of the novel details Joanna herself and what happened to her once she became a slave again. Forced even further south when her master gives her to his brother, she is regarded as an accomplished seamstress and makes a place for herself as one of the house slaves. In time, she falls in love with another slave and they have a daughter. They want more for their daughter however and as she quilts she starts working a map into her quilting. Her goal is to one day see them all to freedom. Things get even harder though when she is gifted to the master's daughter just recently wed and separated from her family. She is determined to go North and obtain freedom, but she doesn't want to leave her family behind.

Joanna is truly a like-able character. She has her moments of temper but who wouldn't in a situation like hers. She has the gift of hope and inspiring hope in others in addition to her many other talents. I do have to confess, I was silently cheering her on to slap her mistress as she was a perfect brat. That is my one complaint on the characters in this novel, they were either evil or good with no shades of grey. While I'm inclined to agree that slave owners were monsters, they probably all weren't quite as evil as the ones in this novel appeared to be.

I found that Chiaverini's writing became a little more harsh in this novel but that is understandable due to the nature of the subject. As much as it hurts to think about, people were beaten and owned and this is an undeniable fact of our history in this country. It may offend some sensitive readers but I think most should be able to handle the truth. As far as her description in this book it once again was on the scant side. Joanna's freedom quilt was barely described and it served more as a prop to remind the reader she wanted to be free and had to make a map to help herself.

While this book still wasn't as good as the ones who follow the main storyline I did enjoy it. I would have liked to see the characters developed more and a tad more detail, but overall it was an engrossing story. I look forward to the next in the series.

The Lost Quilter
Copyright 2009
337 pages

[LuVerne Hoover · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very moving book. I cried at the end for the beauty of it all. This is one of my favorite books in her series.

Joanna was a slave who had endured horrific treatment and escaped. As a fugitive, she learned to read while hiding out at a farm in PA. She was captured and separated from her newborn son, and was sent back to her master. She was sold much further south to her master's brother and managed to find love with Titus and have another child. She was sold away from her husband and was separated from her daughter for awhile. She was eventually reunited with her daughter, but in the meantime she nurtured and adopted another small slave girl who had been cruelly treated and had lost her mother. All throughout the book Joanna sees beyond her own pain to the misery of others. Her price for becoming a spy for the union army was security for her daughters if anything should happen to herself.

Joanna eventually escaped to union quarters. When the war ended she helped to educate former sleeves on an island where she had formerly been enslaved. Joanna sewed her route north into a quilt which became famous, and the quilt helped the descendants of her former rescuers to find out what had happened to her as they brought it to the museum on the island.

[Marie French · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with many fiction writers who want to tell the story of a particular time, the author appears to have lumped every evil ever visited upon any slave all upon this one slave in the story. Most of the white people were portrayed as pure evil and self-serving in this story -North and South. I don't want to diminish what she was trying to say about slavery being bad, but it would be better to give a more realistic representation across the board. Nonetheless, the story itself was told well.

I wonder if a person was to write a story about the human race... would they focus on every evil, every fault, every shortcoming of mankind and lump it all into the one character representing all of humankind. Would we not want them to tell the good side as well? ... A more balanced and human approach?

I've read Victor Frankls' "Man's Search for Meaning" where he tells what happened to him, and to the other people in Auschwitz... He told HIS story.... Amazingly, he saw the good and the bad, even in his captors and his fellow captives.

WWII was a terrible time with people doing a lot of evil. How does one live with oneself after such evil? But there were a lot of good Germans too.. a lot of scared Germans who were afraid and too un-empowered to be able to do anything. We cannot lump them all into one person. I highly recommend "The Book Thief" as an example.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this would be a cozy mystery, well not exactly. It’s a story about Joanna, a slave in the old south, before, during and after the civil war.
I’m not one to go over the whole story. I will just say it was a fascinating, well written, very engaging story with well drawn and developed characters and I recommend it.
My only complaint was there was no mention of how they got their homespun material. Joanna was a seamstress so they were mentioning homespun and fine material for the white people but there was no mention of who did the spinning or the weaving. That would have been a big job for someone. Even when the stockade was in effect and they couldn’t get material from Britain they were mentioning cloth being made into uniforms etc. As a spinner I would notice this but I think it was a big omission in the story.

[D Dyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This book was not at all what I expected when I started it but it was an incredibly rewarding read nonetheless. Though it begins in contemporary times we move quickly to the pre-Civil War South where the runaway slave Joanna has been re-captured, is forced to indoor punishments and then sold even farther south. She uses her skills as a seamstress to better her life in the limited ways available to her and as a quilter to attempt to preserve her memories of the path to freedom. The language is clear and the characters are sharply drawn. I’ve read books similar to this one and it doesn’t push beyond the limits of a civil war slave narrative but it is still an incredibly good read.

[Candy · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite in the series so far. I loved Joanna. The author helped me see the human side of being a slave. When the mistress is shopping, finds herself hungry, and buys roasted nuts, her slave Joanna is hungry, too. But does the mistress offer some to Joanna? Of course not.
I recently read that historical fiction helps us to see the human side to historical events. I find that even though I know the outcome of historical events, when I'm inside the story, I am as anxious as the characters to find out what happens!!
Oddly, I was reading BURN by Peter Heller, simultaneously with THE LOST QUILTER.
Secession was a central theme in both stories. In the future with Heller's book, and in the past with Chiaverini's.

[Brenda Deuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a little different than my usual books I read. I thought I was getting a cozy mystery but it's definitely not that. It was good though. It had me wanting to know the ending. You will go through several emotions while reading it.

[Tina Travers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A grabbed this book at a library book sale because of the title only. I love quilts. I was so touched by this story and the history that I have gone back to #1 in the series and read all 21 of them. This book is still my favorite of the series.

[Melanie Gilster · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not read Jennifer Chiaverini before, but I will definitely read her books again. Her book are, I think, all set in civil war times. This one is. It will make you think. It might make you mad. I will surely make you want to love people better. The story is well woven and brings you into the characters lives in a way that makes you want to stay there.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done historical fiction tracing a slave woman through the civil war and her quest for freedom. Very compelling.
Much of the story takes place in Charleston, which was very interesting to me, because I was able to visit this city in early 2025.

[Katy M · Rating 3 out of 5]

2026 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge-a book about a granny hobby.

I was really enjoying this book, but towards the end, I was ready for it to be over. it wasn't a long book, but at the same time, after the move to Charleston, it really seemed to drag.

[Sue Tegge · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a story of overcoming unthinkable obstacles and surviving against odds. Joanna was strong in handling her challenges

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

53) Book 14 of the Elm Creek Quilters. Quilts were used during the Underground Railroad as maps and as notice of safe haven. The Elm Creek Quilters keep history alive while making and teaching quilt designs. This book is the story of Joanna, a runaway slave who is a seamstress and is literate. Her Quilt is the topic of the latest discussions of the Elm Creek Quilters. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have enjoyed each and every Elm Creek Quilts book that I have ever read and look forward to each new installment. This book, The Lost Quilter, resolves most of the open questions left open by the Runaway Quilt, specifically the fate of Joanna, the runaway slave that found a temporary refuge at Elm Creek Manor. It was good to see Joanna get a (mostly) happy ending because the author does an excellent job of getting the reader invested in this character.

Having said that, most of the recent books have had very little of the modern era Elm Creek Quilters. Both the Lost Quilter and the Quilter's Kitchen use the current characters mostly as a lead in and a closing, with either visits to the past or recipes or whatnot in-between. While that is good in the occasional books, I hope Ms. Chiaverini remembers that she has done an excellent job of getting her readers invested in Sylvia, Sarah and the rest of the modern era Elm Creek Quilters (especially with new additions recently arriving on the scene) and it would nice to visit with them from time to time.

[kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admired the protagonist of The Lost Quilter, Joanna, immensely as she faced the daily challenge of not being able to lay claim to those things most dear to you such as spouse and children because they could be taken away at the whim of a cruel master. The book is heartbreakingly honest. Slavery was a terrible practice and the victims did not deserve the treatment. Joanna was an intelligent person that watched and waited and took advantage of every opportunity offered to her and eventually found her way to freedom. The road to freedom was very difficult—she and her husband that became separated due to slave ownership details had the motto “just keep breathing”. Whenever something terrible happened Joanna would tell herself, “just keep breathing”. In the end she was successful. Her bravery and courage helped her, as well as others, in establishing a new community where blacks could be free.

[Robin Scharff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book; I'm a beginning quilter and happened to do an extensive research project last year on the idea of slave/abolitionist quilts. While I liked the ending Chiaverini put on Joanna's story, I like The Sugar Camp Quilt and The Runaway Quilt (especially The Runaway Quilt) more. I also think she was wise to leave Sylvia and the others (as characters) with conjecture, rather than saying, Yes, this quilt was made by Joanna, period. Historically, there is no proof for the idea of a slave quilt code, although the verbal histories had to get their start somewhere. . .I have to say, these books of Chiaverini's are one reason I made the slave quilts my research project for the class I was taking. I'm still hopeful there will be slave quilts *definitively* identified. I like this series as a whole, although some books in it are much better than others.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lost Quilter focuses on Joanna North, the runaway slave who stayed with the Bergstrom family and was recaptured and returned to a South Carolina plantation. I listened with rapt attention to the story of Joanna's history and her treatment by members of the Chester and Harper families. Every woman who reads this book will feel her association with Joanna. Some will have "aha" moments, some will have anger moments, some will read with shame, but all will read parts of the book with tears in her eyes. Whether or not you're a quilter, or one who appreciates fine needlework, you'll read "The Lost Quilter" as Jennifer Chiaverini takes the Elm Creek series beyond the "founding mothers" into a history of quilt making during one of the most shameful periods of American history.

[Ragan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the story of a slave woman and her fight for freedom. Somethings things I liked were that about half the book took place in South Carolina and I like to learn things about my new home state. I also liked that though Joanna goes though many horrible trials the author only goes into enough details so you can understand what is happening (like when she is whipped after running away) and shows the after effects. The story is well formed and moves at a nice pace. I didn't care for the frame story very much. I also wished that the author had made the narrative part of the story sound more like Joanna so that when Joanna speaks it would not be so startling different. Overall a good read.

[Rayni · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sequel to book #4, The Runaway Quilt.

Hans & Gerda Bergstrom were brother & sister. Hans is Sylvia Bergstrom's great-grandfather, yet anytime they referenced Gerda she was Sylvia's great-GREAT-aunt. How can that be?? Gerda was Hans' sister, not his aunt. Chiaverini, or her copy editor, needs to learn a little bit about genealogy, if she is going to do a work on it. And Sylvia seems obsessed with both quilting & genealogy.

I had a hard time with this book, but then I have a hard time with anything to do with slavery & the dark time of the Civil War.

I gave it 3 stars.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's true, I liked a novel with "quilter" in the title. I officially need to buy a walker and learn to crochet. I was so ready to hate this book. I was actually kind of excited about hating it. But other than the lackluster situation created to get to the good story(Sylvia researching her far more interesting ancestor, Joanna, due to an interesting quilt she left behind), I thought this book had an engaging plot and three dimensional characters I really cared about. Joanna, a slave freed and recaptured, is a master seamstress and tougher than nails. Her story is gut wrenching at times, but fascinating. I would recommend this to anyone looking for an interesting slave narrative.

Now excuse me, I must go get fitted for dentures.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had elements of a good story and there were parts that I really enjoyed. The book is part of a series although it can easily be read independent of other books in the series. The writing in the beginning and at the end were disappointing. The authors tone was simplistic and somewhat condescending to the reader in introducing her characters. The bulk of the story was enjoyable and the characters believable. The story did flow well (due to some improbable events) but I doubt I will read works by this author again

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this less than the others...somehow the quilting got lost. It is an important story, and if I hadn't just read March, I may have been more sympathetic to the tale, but March was so exquisitely told that all others besides it pale in comparison.

But it was a brave addition to the series, and must have taken some effort to research.

[Barb Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Elm Creek Quilt book is a little more meaty than most of the books in the series. I would call this book more of a Historical Fiction as it deals with the Civil War in South Carolina as well as slavery. The story is about Joanna a run away slave that makes it to Elm Creek,PA only to be captured and returned to her master. Her life, trials and tribulations are told in a way that make them seem very real . 4 stars

[Kati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book in the Elm Creek Quilts series. This one was not about the camp or campers, but one that delved again into the past, telling the story of Joanna, a runaway slave who at one time had taken refuge at Elm Creek Farm.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love her books! My favorites are the one's about the Underground Railroad using quilts to guide the slaves north to freedom!

[Andrea Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Elm Creek Quilters series. I've now read 6 of the 20 books in this series, and they are all top notch reads for me, The Lost Quilter was no different. An old desk with a locked draw uncovers old letters that detail a woman's search for a man. These letters unearth the story of Joanna North

This is the story of a runaway slave and her quest for freedom.

Joanna's story is heartbreaking and moving as we see her as she tries to escape to the north but ends up being caught and returned to her cruel owner.

Most of the Elm Creek novels that I've read are more lighthearted. This book is far from that, though it doesn't go as far as sugarcoating slavery. The reader will witness the cruelty of each of Joanna's masters, as they separate her from those she loves at every turn.

There was a point when Miss Evangaline and her husband are talking about Joanna's unwillingness to go to Charleston with them and her husband says "Negroes don't feel love or sadness the way we do. They may give the appearance of true feeling, but they understand these sensations only in a brute, rudimentary way, such as a dog or horse might." If that doesn't leave you feeling disturbed, then you you have no feeling.

Joanna faces so many hardships, but she manages to rise above it all. She's the strongest character I've read about in ages. She loses so much in her life, while doing so much. I wanted to hug her and take her and her family away.

I found tears in my eyes many times as the story progressed.

Ms. Chiaverini takes a subject that is uncomfortable to read about, and makes it palatable for the masses.

[Olwen White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this is book 14 in the Elm Creek quilt series, it's the second I've read. I started with The Runaway Quilt and loved it. I had high hopes for this one as it tells the story of Joanna and what happened to her after she was betrayed by Anneke and returned to slavery.

This book is not your usual chick lit. If you're hoping for a warm, fuzzy book about quilts and quilting, this isn't it. This one is about hardship, starvation, mistreatment and loss. Set in the pre-civil war years in South Carolina, the focus is on Joanna the slave, her life as a slave, and the detached, cruel ignorance of her inhumane owners.

It's well-written and well-researched but it's not easy to read. You will find yourself reading things that make you uncomfortable. At times the story is cringeworthy. It needs to be. It's not a time in history that should be romanticised.

Maybe that's why I'm finding it hard to say if I liked it. I know I didn't hate it... but... did I enjoy reading it? Not really, no. That's why it gets three stars. But then, maybe that's the point. Maybe I wasn't supposed to like it because of what Joanna went through.

I'm left thinking that a cosy quilt series about a quilting group wasn't the right format for such a hard-hitting storyline. Particularly, as it leaves Joanna out on a bit of a limb. She doesn't get 'found'. The happy ending, if there is one, is bitter-sweet.