A Single Thread by Marie Bostwick

Evelyn moves to New Bern after her divorce. One day she stumbles upon this charming little shop in a courtyard, which reminds her how she's always dreamed of having her own quilt shop. She takes a risk by opening the shop, and although in the beginning things are a bit shaky, she meets some great friends. She puts on this quilting event to support a Breast Cancer charity and on this day she meets 3 people who become her best friends:

Abigail is very well-known around town. She donates her time and money to many charities, and a quilting shop is really the last place she expects to find herself, but at her neice's encouraging, she goes to one event and finds she really enjoys herself. Especially after she makes a beautiful quilt for this 12 year old girl she meets at the shelter.

Liza is Abigails neice and has recently been turned over to Abigail's care after shoplifting and stealing a sweater. She lost her own mom to Breast Cancer and when she finds out about the event that Evelyn is having, she blackmails her aunt into going with her.

Margot is between jobs and finds herself in New Bern, and also attends the quilt shop for the first time on the day of the event, where she meets Abigail, Liza, and Evelyn.

Evelyn finds out she has Breast Cancer on the day before the event, and turns to her 3 friends for support, since her family doesn't live anywhere nearby. They help her with running her store and make sure she has meals, and Abigail helps her find the best doctor in the area. She has a lumpectomy, but then finds out they did not get all the cancer out, so she needs to have a full mastectomy. Her shop is in danger of having to close. Right after she has her surgery, she comes up with a plan to keep her store from closing.

Liza makes it through the year on probation, and after some shocking discoveries about her aunt and her mother, they become closer. Liza decides to apply for art school.

Abigail continues to do alot of charity work at the shelter and even donates some funding to Evelyn's shop.

My thoughts: I liked this book. This was a first time author for me, and I would like to read more of her books. I liked reading about the characters and I liked reading about their interactions with each other. It did take awhile for the author to reveal what had happened between Abigail and her sister. I think my favorite character was Evelyn and I was always interested what was going to happen to her next.

I finished this book on 2/9/2009

My thoughts: This is a nice change from the type of book I have been reading lately. I like the way it switches back and forth between Evelyn and Abigail. Although it would be interesting to read things from Liza's point of view. I get a kick out of reading the exchanges between Abigail and Liza. Abigail is hilarious! I'm not real sure what I think about Margot.