Knitting

by Anne Bartlett

Book Overview

In Anne Bartlett's engaging novel, a chance meeting sparks a friendship between two very different women who share a fascination with knitting. Sandra, a rigid academic, struggles to navigate the world without her husband, whom she has recently lost to cancer. Martha--a self-taught textile artist with her own secret store of grief--spends her days knitting elaborate projects charged with personal meaning. As the two women collaborate on a new project,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0618710477
• ISBN13: 9780618710478
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Truly a knitter's book

This is at its core a character study set in Australia of two very different women, both widows, who forge a rocky friendship while laboring over a project involving both of their preferred crafts. One woman is a teacher and writer and the other is a prolific knitter. It is a quiet story with loads of (not gratuitous) knitting references. I really wanted to see and touch the handmade pieces in the story. "Knitting" has a very satisfying ending.

Excellent book for a book club

This book was recommended to us by our assistant pastor who, by the by, is from England. I was hesitant to read it because I am not a knitter and am not in a grief mode. However, this author takes you up and carries you along. It is a quick read and one that touches your heart and mind. We will have much to discuss when our Christian Book Club meets in January. I recommend it highly.

Knitting is a mystical and miraculous book.

I just finished reading Anne Bartlett's novel, Knitting, and I feel that I have been a witness to holy things. The book touched my heart. As a knitter, I enjoyed the description of the yarns and the delight that Martha took in her creations. As a spiritual person, I relished the depths of discovery that occurred in both Martha and Sandra. The characters and plot of this novel are quietly enchanting. The story grows on you as gently as a ball of yarn becomes a garment. I highly recommend this novel for women, especially knitters and meditators.

Beautifully written story of two very different, emotionally-scarred widows who become friends

To say Anne Bartlett is an excellent weaver of words is not only hyperbole, but totally pertinent to the subject of this story. This is a woman's book, particularly one for those who knit, and who love working with yarn. There are many references to the process of knitting and the historical importance of knitting in the life of mankind. The character of Sandra Fildes is self-involved, seriously uptight, emotionally needy, and unable to relate well to people on a personal level. She is also a wordsmith, a writer, and a woman interested in the study of language and its nuances, along with that of textiles. When the story opens, Sandra's beloved husband, Jack, through whom she's lived vicariously for many years, has been dead of cancer for about nine months and she struggles each day to keep going. She visits an art gallery where she is struck by a glass dress. To demonstrate Bartlett's ability to meaningfully and effectively weave words together, following is the description (page 44) of the dress as seen through Sandra's eyes: "But this glass dress, this was a dress for a woman with a cutting voice and a snapping handbag, someone who ordered people around so they wouldn't see who she was. A dress for a woman who was always holding in a shriek but would let out only bits at a time, slivers of misery from behind those tight glass beads." Wow! I thought as I read the paragraph that the description could be of Sandra herself. At any rate, Sandra and polar opposite Martha McKenzie, knitter extraordinaire, friendly and giving, but also dealing with her own deep-seated pain over losses in her life, meet under unusual circumstances. Over time, through a shared interest in things knitted, they develop an unlikely bond that in the end is healing to both. There are some very dramatic episodes through which these two women must travel, and while other characters come and go, it is the interplay between these two women that snags the heart strings and takes the reader along on a rocky journey to friendship. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. One question each reader will want to attempt to answer: Who is "the man?" Carolyn Rowe Hill

An intriguing novel

Admittedly, Knitting is a novel and could be reviewed under our 'Fiction' section - but it's featured here for its specialized background and potential interest to knitting enthusiasts. Two talented knitters are polar opposites in other ways: widow and teacher Sandra is still adjusting to life without Jack when she meets a fellow knitter who appears to have adjusted well to her own grief. The two form an uncertain friendship when an exhibition of knitting involves them, with some unusual revelations evolving from a professional interest. Plenty of knitting insights and references throughout make Knitting an intriguing novel -- especially for needlecraft enthusiasts!