The Thread Collectors by Shaunna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman – 320 pages
ARC from Graydon House and Netgalley for an honest review
Book Blurb:
The Thread Collectors by Shaunna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman: 1863: In a small Creole cottage in New Orleans, an ingenious young Black woman named Stella embroiders intricate maps on repurposed cloth to help enslaved men flee and join the Union Army. Bound to a man who would kill her if he knew of her clandestine activities, Stella has to hide not only her efforts but her love for William, a Black soldier and a brilliant musician.
Meanwhile, in New York City, a Jewish woman stitches a quilt for her husband, who is stationed in Louisiana with the Union Army. Between abolitionist meetings, Lily rolls bandages and crafts quilts with her sewing circle for other soldiers, too, hoping for their safe return home. But when months go by without word from her husband, Lily resolves to make the perilous journey South to search for him.
As these two women risk everything for love and freedom during the brutal Civil War, their paths converge in New Orleans, where an unexpected encounter leads them to discover that even the most delicate threads have the capacity to save us.
My Review: 4.5 stars
The Thread Collectors by Shaunna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman left me speechless with its rich historical detail in showing the unlikely friendship of an escaped slave turned Union soldier and a Jewish field doctor, also a Union soldier.
William leaves Stella, the woman he loves, in New Orleans while she stitches maps into scraps of fabric with any scarce threads she can find to help other slaves escape to join the army. Jacob leaves his society wife Lily in New York while she does abolition work and stiches her love into the blankets, shirts and handkerchiefs that she sends to him. It is their mutual love of music and William’s brilliant skill as a flautist that bring the two men together in remarkable ways. They were tested physically and emotionally as the Civil War raged on.
The authors friendship and their individual and distinct ancestries is what brought the story together. I’ve read a few books that feature Black Union soldiers, but I don’t think I’ve read any that feature Jewish soldiers. I found this story compelling, detailed, wonderfully paced with smartly crafted characters. Even the minor characters held my interest and depth to the story. Book clubs will love this one!
Quotes I liked:
Without the fingerprint of the heart, it would only be sound…not music.”
“An abolitionist, suffragette and a Jewess like me. A heroine like no other.”
“They wanted to protect Stella in the only way they could, by providing a little bit of their hear and their history to blanket her each night.”
“Tonight we celebrate family, but we also pay respect to the Israelites’ escape from bondage in Egypt, and yet you fail to see the irony of your words, in support of Southern slavery, dear sister.”
“Lily had pressed him to choose a side in this war, believing that apathy was as malignant as condoning the system of bondage.”
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