20 July, 2013

#BookReview :: The Wishing Thread by Lisa Van Allen

The Van Ripper women have been the talk of Tarrytown, New York, for centuries. Some say they’re angels; some say they’re crooks. In their tumbledown “Stitchery,” not far from the stomping grounds of the legendary Headless Horseman, the Van Ripper sisters—Aubrey, Bitty, and Meggie—are said to knit people’s most ardent wishes into beautiful scarves and mittens, granting them health, success, or even a blossoming romance. But for the magic to work, sacrifices must be made—and no one knows that better than the Van Rippers.

When the Stitchery matriarch, Mariah, dies, she leaves the yarn shop to her three nieces. Aubrey, shy and reliable, has dedicated her life to weaving spells for the community, though her sisters have long stayed away. Bitty, pragmatic and persistent, has always been skeptical of magic and wants her children to have a normal, nonmagical life. Meggie, restless and free-spirited, follows her own set of rules. Now, after Mariah’s death forces a reunion, the sisters must reassess the state of their lives even as they decide the fate of the Stitchery. But their relationships with one another—and their beliefs in magic—are put to the test. Will the threads hold?


‘The Thread’ tells the story of the Van Ripper sisters. When the Stitchery matriarch, Mariah, dies, she leaves the shop to her three nieces – Aubrey, Bitty and Meggie. Three very different sisters are brought together by Mariah’s designs. Aubrey had a calling for stitchery from the very beginning. She knits the wishes of the town’s people all the while sacrificing her wishes for her own life. But fate has other ideas for her. Bitty with a history of a not so fairy tale-ish marriage, wants a stable and simple life for her children. She has no interest in the family business. Meggie, the youngest, is a restless soul who wants to get over feeling lonely all the time. She too has no interest in the family business and is always in search of their wayward mother. Now the three of them have to come together to decide the future of this business that has been left to them by their Aunt.

The leading characters of the three sisters were very well developed and very distinct. There were a number of characters in this book besides the three sisters who played an influential role. The plot is not extraordinary to stand out, but it has enough material to keep a reader engaged. From the characters and their quirks, to the concept of stitchery, to the final fate of the Van Ripper family business, to the eminent changes in the town and people’s reaction to it – the book has a pretty lot to offer. There’s love, drama and even a little bit of mystery in it.

My only complaint is the pace. It took time for things to take off and even then the pace was bit too slow for me. I read this book over a period of couple of days and I found it quite easy to put it down to come back for it later. And coming back to the book after a gap, I found it extremely easy to remember all that had happened before.

Overall, it was an okay book that can help when you are looking for a change of pace and a light read.


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