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2023., Adult, William Morrow Call No: FIC CHI Edition: First edition. Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: Early in the Great War, men left Britain’s factories in droves to enlist. Struggling to keep up production, arsenals hired women to build the weapons the military urgently needed. Be the Girl Behind the Man Behind the Gun, the recruitment posters beckoned. Thousands of women—cooks, maids, shopgirls, and housewives—answered their nation’s call. Among them is nineteen-year-old former housemaid April Tipton. Impressed by her friend Marjorie’s descriptions of higher wages, plentiful meals, and comfortable lodgings, she takes a job at Thornshire Arsenal near London, filling shells in the Danger Building—difficult, dangerous, and absolutely essential work. Joining them is Lucy Dempsey, wife of Daniel Dempsey, Olympic gold medalist and star forward of Tottenham Hotspur. With Daniel away serving in the Footballers’ Battalion, Lucy resolves to do her bit to hasten the end of the war. When her coworkers learn she is a footballer’s wife, they invite her to join the arsenal ladies’ football club, the Thornshire Canaries. The Canaries soon acquire an unexpected fan in the boss’s wife, Helen Purcell, who is deeply troubled by reports that Danger Building workers suffer from serious, unexplained illnesses. One common symptom, the lurid yellow hue of their skin, earns them the nickname canary girls. Suspecting a connection between the canary girls’ maladies and the chemicals they handle, Helen joins the arsenal administration as their staunchest, though often unappreciated, advocate. The football pitch is the one place where class distinctions and fears for their men fall away. As the war grinds on and tragedy takes its toll, the Canary Girls persist despite the dangers, proud to serve, determined to outlive the war and rejoice in victory and peace.
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20191001., Adults, William Morrow & Company Call No: FIC CHI Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Series Title: Elm Creek Quilts Volume: #21Summary Note: Just weeks before Christmas, severe wintry weather damages the church hall hosting the Christmas Boutique—an annual sale of handcrafted gifts and baked goods that supports the county food pantry. Determined to save the fundraiser, Sylvia Bergstrom Compson offers to hold the event at Elm Creek Manor, her ancestral family estate and summertime home to Elm Creek Quilt Camp. In the spirit of the season, Sylvia and the Elm Creek Quilters begin setting up market booths in the ballroom and decking the halls with beautiful hand-made holiday quilts. Each of the quilters chooses a favorite quilt to display, a special creation evoking memories of holidays past and dreams of Christmases yet to come. Sarah, a first-time mother expecting twins, worries if she can handle raising two babies, especially with her husband so often away on business. Cheerful, white-haired Agnes reflects upon a beautiful appliqué quilt she made as a young bride and the mysterious, long-lost antique quilt that inspired it. Empty nesters and occasional rivals Gwen and Diane contemplate family heirlooms and unfinished projects as they look forward to having their children home again for the holidays. But while the Elm Creek Quilters work tirelessly to make sure the Christmas Boutique happens, it may take a holiday miracle or two to make it the smashing success they want it to be. .
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c2005., Young Adult, Simon & Schuster Call No: FIC CHI Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: Sylvia Compson prefers a quite Christmas, but her friend Sarah has other ideas as she goes through the Bergstrom family decorations that haven't been opened in more than fifty years and discovers a curious Christmas quilt.
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[2017]., Adults, Dutton Call No: FIC CHI Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: The only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the most brilliant, revered, and scandalous of the Romantic poets, Ada was destined for fame long before her birth. Estranged from Ada’s father, who was infamously “mad, bad, and dangerous to know,” Ada’s mathematician mother is determined to save her only child from her perilous Byron heritage. Banishing fairy tales and make-believe from the nursery, Ada’s mother provides her daughter with a rigorous education grounded in mathematics and science. Any troubling spark of imagination—or worse yet, passion or poetry—is promptly extinguished. Or so her mother believes. When Ada is introduced into London society as a highly eligible young heiress, she at last discovers the intellectual and social circles she has craved all her life. Little does she realize that her delightful new friendship with inventor Charles Babbage will shape her destiny. Intrigued by the prototype of his first calculating machine, the Difference Engine, and enthralled by the plans for his even more advanced Analytical Engine, Ada resolves to help Babbage realize his extraordinary vision. she passionately studies mathematics—ignoring skeptics who consider it an unusual, even unhealthy pursuit for a woman—falls in love, discovers the shocking secrets behind her parents’ estrangement, and comes to terms with the unquenchable fire of her imagination.
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c2012., Adult, Dutton Call No: FIC CHI Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Series Title: Elm Creek quilts novelSummary Note: Quilters and aspiring quilters gather for a special winter session of quilt camp to make quilts for Project Linus, a charitable organization dedicated to providing handmade quilts and blankets to children in need, and each quilter shares their answer to the question from Master Quilter Sylvia Bergstom Compson Cooper, "why do you give?".
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2009., Adult, Simon & Schuster Call No: FIC CHI Edition: 1st Simon & Schuster hardcover ed. Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Series Title: Elm Creek quilts novelSummary Note: Master quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson, having uncovered letters in an antique desk written by slave Joanna, pieces together the story of the woman's life, learning of how she escaped only to be captured and sold again and created a quilt which hid clues about how to get back in order to be reunited with the son she was forced to leave behind.
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c2004., Young Adult, Simon & Schuster Call No: FIC CHI Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: The air of secrecy created when the Elm Creek quilters learn that Sylvia, one of their own, has planned her holiday wedding without their help, seems to infiltrate the close-knit group which soon feels the effects of all those little white lies.
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[2015]., Dutton Call No: FIC CHI Edition: 1st ed. Availability:1 of 1 At Your LibraryClick here to view Summary Note: "The New York Times bestselling author of Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker and Mrs. Lincoln's Rival imagines the inner life of Julia Grant, beloved as a Civil War general's wife and the First Lady, yet who grappled with a profound and complex relationship with the slave who was her namesake-until she forged a proud identity of her own. In 1844, Missouri belle Julia Dent met dazzling horseman Lieutenant Ulysses S Grant. Four years passed before their parents permitted them to wed, and the groom's abolitionist family refused to attend the ceremony. Since childhood, Julia owned as a slave another Julia, known as Jule. Jule guarded her mistress's closely held twin secrets: She had perilously poor vision but was gifted with prophetic sight. So it was that Jule became Julia's eyes to the world. And what a world it was, marked by gathering clouds of war. The Grants vowed never to be separated, but as Ulysses rose through the ranks-becoming general in chief of the Union Army-so did the stakes of their pact. During the war, Julia would travel, often in the company of Jule and the four Grant children, facing unreliable transportation and certain danger to be at her husband's side. Yet Julia and Jule saw two different wars. While Julia spoke out for women-Union and Confederate-she continued to hold Jule as a slave behind Union lines. Upon the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, Jule claimed her freedom and rose to prominence as a businesswoman in her own right, taking the honorary title Madame. The two women's paths continued to cross throughout the Grants' White House years in Washington, DC, and later in New York City, the site of Grant's Tomb. Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule is the first novel to chronicle this singular relationship, bound by sight and shadow"--
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-- Missus Lincoln's rival[2014]., Adult, Dutton Call No: FIC CHI Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: "Tells the story of Mary Todd Lincoln's very public social and political contest with Kate Chase Sprague."--Provided by publisher.
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2020, Adults, William Morrow an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Call No: FIC CHI Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: In May 1875, Elizabeth Todd Edwards reels from news that her younger sister Mary, former First Lady and widow of President Abraham Lincoln, has attempted suicide. Mary’s shocking act followed legal proceedings arranged by her eldest and only surviving son that declared her legally insane. Although they have long been estranged, Elizabeth knows Mary’s tenuous mental health has deteriorated through decades of trauma and loss. Yet is her suicide attempt truly the impulse of a deranged mind, or the desperate act of a sane woman terrified to be committed to an asylum? And—if her sisters can put past grievances aside—is their love powerful enough to save her? Maternal Elizabeth, peacemaker Frances, envious Ann, and much adored Emilie had always turned to one another in times of joy and heartache, first as children, and later as young wives and mothers. But when Civil War erupted, the conflict that divided a nation shattered their family. The Todd sisters’s fates were bound to their husbands’ choices as some joined the Lincoln administration, others the Confederate Army. Now, though discord and tragedy have strained their bonds, Elizabeth knows they must come together as sisters to help Mary in her most desperate hour. .
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2020, Adults, HarperAudio Call No: AUD CHI Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: In May 1875, Elizabeth Todd Edwards reels from news that her younger sister Mary, former First Lady and widow of President Abraham Lincoln, has attempted suicide. Mary’s shocking act followed legal proceedings arranged by her eldest and only surviving son that declared her legally insane. Although they have long been estranged, Elizabeth knows Mary’s tenuous mental health has deteriorated through decades of trauma and loss. Yet is her suicide attempt truly the impulse of a deranged mind, or the desperate act of a sane woman terrified to be committed to an asylum? And—if her sisters can put past grievances aside—is their love powerful enough to save her? Maternal Elizabeth, peacemaker Frances, envious Ann, and much adored Emilie had always turned to one another in times of joy and heartache, first as children, and later as young wives and mothers. But when Civil War erupted, the conflict that divided a nation shattered their family. The Todd sisters’s fates were bound to their husbands’ choices as some joined the Lincoln administration, others the Confederate Army. Now, though discord and tragedy have strained their bonds, Elizabeth knows they must come together as sisters to help Mary in her most desperate hour. .
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2007., Adult, Simon & Schuster Call No: FIC CHI Edition: 1st Simon & Schuste Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: Sylvia Compson, hoping to win over her new husband Andrew Cooper's daughter, Amy, who disapproves of her father's late-life marriage, takes up work on a long-unfinished quilt she calls New Year's Reflections, which brings back memories of youthful holiday celebrations and the reasons why she became estranged from her older sister, Claudia.
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1999., Adults, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks Call No: FIC CHI Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Series Title: Elm Creek Quilts Volume: #1Summary Note: When Sarah McClure and her husband, Matt, move to Waterford, Pennsylvania, she hopes to make a fresh start in the small college town. Unable to find a job both practical and fulfilling, she takes a temporary position at Elm Creek Manor helping its reclusive owner, Sylvia Compson, prepare her family estate for sale after the death of her estranged sister. Slyvia is also a master quilter and, as part of Sarah's compensation, offers to share the secrets of her creative gifts with the younger woman.
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2008., Adult, Simon & Schuster Call No: FIC CHI Edition: 1st Simon & Schuster hardcover ed. Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: Anna Del Maso has combined her love of cooking and quilting to become head chef at Elm Creek Quilts, a popular quilting retreat in Pennsylvania, where she learns about the region's traditional foods and celebrations.
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c2003., Adult, Simon & Schuster Call No: FIC CHI Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: Sylvia Bergstrom Compson gains insights into the untold life of her mother Eleanor, who died when Sylvia was just a child, when she sets out on a nationwide quest to locate Eleanor's hand-stitched quilts which have gone missing from the attic of Elm Creek Manor.