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The Knitting Circle: A Novel
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Praise for The Knitting Circle
‘Just like a woolly jumper, this book is cosy and perfect for long winter nights! … truly heartwarming.’
Closer Magazine
Praise for Ann Hood:
‘A heartbreaker’
Vanity Fair
‘An engrossing storyteller … [This book] works its magic.’ Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees
‘What a gift for Ann Hood, who suffered a loss nearly identical to Mary Baxter's, to have made of her grief.’
Newsday
‘Memorably stirring and authentic.’
Los Angeles Times Book Review
‘Ann Hood writes with the ease of a born storyteller.’
Chicago Tribune
Product Description
Come on in and join the knitting circle – it might just save your life…
Spinning yarns, weaving tales, mending lives…
Every Wednesday a group of women gathers at Alice's Sit and Knit. Little do they know that they will learn so much more than patterns…
Grieving Mary needs to fill the empty days after the death of her only child.
Glamorous Scarlet is the life and soul of any party. But beneath her trademark red hair and beaming smile lurks heartache.
Sculptor Lulu seems too cool to live in the suburbs. Why has she fled New York's bright lights?
Model housewife Beth never has a hair out of place. But her perfect world is about to fall apart….
Irish-born Ellen wears the weight of the world on her shoulders but not her heart on her sleeve. What is she hiding?
As the weeks go by, under mysterious Alice's watchful eye, an unlikely friendship forms. Secrets are revealed and pacts made. Then tragedy strikes, and each woman must learn to face her own past in order to move on…
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I admit to having picked this book without reading the back, purely because it was called "The Knitting Circle" and having been reintroduced to knitting myself through a knitting group I was intrigued to see how many fictional books were popping up with this theme.
Within it's pages I found the moving and at times heartbreaking story of Mary, a women who have recently lost her only child, 5 year old Stella to meningitis. In the depths of her despair her wayward and absent mother seems unable to provide the support she needs until in a moment of clarity she arranges for "Big Alice" to invite Mary along to her Knitting Circle. And there begins Mary's journey, as each women gradually opens up and reveals their own hidden heartaches and tragedies and through the gentle, meditative effect of the knitting itself Mary begins to come back to herself and to life.
This book is made all the more poignant by the fact that author of this book, Ann Hood also lost her young daughter to sudden illness. A beautifully written book, which had me blinking back tears on more than one occasion.
Within it's pages I found the moving and at times heartbreaking story of Mary, a women who have recently lost her only child, 5 year old Stella to meningitis. In the depths of her despair her wayward and absent mother seems unable to provide the support she needs until in a moment of clarity she arranges for "Big Alice" to invite Mary along to her Knitting Circle. And there begins Mary's journey, as each women gradually opens up and reveals their own hidden heartaches and tragedies and through the gentle, meditative effect of the knitting itself Mary begins to come back to herself and to life.
This book is made all the more poignant by the fact that author of this book, Ann Hood also lost her young daughter to sudden illness. A beautifully written book, which had me blinking back tears on more than one occasion.
148 of 151 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The knitting blogs have been listing books with a knitting theme, and I've read a few. Generally they're pleasant little reads, sometimes with a pattern or two printed in the back, and I expected something like that when I picked up The Knitting Circle. Clearly I had not done my homework: this book by Ann Hood is richly textured and beautiful, if emotionally wrenching to read.
Hood lost her own young daughter to a sudden infectious illness. In this book she writes a compelling story of Mary Baxter's grief and recovery after the death of her five-year-old daughter Stella from bacterial meningitis. Mary is immobilized by her loss, and learns to knit through the long-distance machinations of her mother. The rhythm and predictability of knitting gradually begin to give her a focus; one stitch after another, one row after another, until a fabric is created. Time passes and something is achieved.
Mary soon learns that each of the other knitters meeting weekly at Alice's "Sit and Knit" has a tragic story. From lost wartime lover to brutal assault to recurring cancer to loved ones lost on 9/11, each knitter's story unfolds in turn. Their stories are linked through the knitting circle and Mary's slow, slow progress through her grief. Mary's relationship with her husband and her mother suffer from her lack of engagement, as well as her relationships at work. Gradually, like the fabric of knits and purls, Mary begins to be whole again.
Through most of this book there was a feeling of not much actually happening, but an intensity of feeling being expressed as the back-stories unfold; a darker, more introspective Decameron. Beautiful to read, painful but beautiful. Gradually the separate strands become more closely intertwined and in the last part of the book, by comparison, the action becomes more pronounced. This transition is a good fit if the reader sees it as a parallel to the stages of Mary's grief; though it could be seen as many loose ends being tied up in a rush.
You may read books more smoothly constructed and edited, or with more thorough development of the secondary characters. You may read memoirs that make your heart break over the death of a child -- the classic Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther, for example, or April Fool's Day by Bryce Courtenay. But if you are looking for a book tagged as a novel that rings painfully true, that takes you from deepest grief to the tendrils of healing and renewal, then this is the book for you. Knitting is optional, but you WILL want a box of tissues.
Hood lost her own young daughter to a sudden infectious illness. In this book she writes a compelling story of Mary Baxter's grief and recovery after the death of her five-year-old daughter Stella from bacterial meningitis. Mary is immobilized by her loss, and learns to knit through the long-distance machinations of her mother. The rhythm and predictability of knitting gradually begin to give her a focus; one stitch after another, one row after another, until a fabric is created. Time passes and something is achieved.
Mary soon learns that each of the other knitters meeting weekly at Alice's "Sit and Knit" has a tragic story. From lost wartime lover to brutal assault to recurring cancer to loved ones lost on 9/11, each knitter's story unfolds in turn. Their stories are linked through the knitting circle and Mary's slow, slow progress through her grief. Mary's relationship with her husband and her mother suffer from her lack of engagement, as well as her relationships at work. Gradually, like the fabric of knits and purls, Mary begins to be whole again.
Through most of this book there was a feeling of not much actually happening, but an intensity of feeling being expressed as the back-stories unfold; a darker, more introspective Decameron. Beautiful to read, painful but beautiful. Gradually the separate strands become more closely intertwined and in the last part of the book, by comparison, the action becomes more pronounced. This transition is a good fit if the reader sees it as a parallel to the stages of Mary's grief; though it could be seen as many loose ends being tied up in a rush.
You may read books more smoothly constructed and edited, or with more thorough development of the secondary characters. You may read memoirs that make your heart break over the death of a child -- the classic Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther, for example, or April Fool's Day by Bryce Courtenay. But if you are looking for a book tagged as a novel that rings painfully true, that takes you from deepest grief to the tendrils of healing and renewal, then this is the book for you. Knitting is optional, but you WILL want a box of tissues.
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have just finished this book after 3 days. This is a different type of book for me as I usually only read thrillers. The cover of the book caught my eye. I thought the book on the whole was excellent; very uplifting. I like Ann Hood's style of writing and I hope to read many more of hers. At times I got annoyed with Mary though - a bit too self centred.
I started feeling better at the end of the book even though I am not a knitter (yet!) myself. I have had a lot of bad times recently and if you have been, or are, in a similar position I think you will like this book. I shed a few tears too!
I started feeling better at the end of the book even though I am not a knitter (yet!) myself. I have had a lot of bad times recently and if you have been, or are, in a similar position I think you will like this book. I shed a few tears too!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Knitting Circle
I read this book, having downloaded it for my new Kindle, on the way to New Zealand. It certainly helped the flying time boredom as I was completely absorbed by its contents. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mannie
the knitting circle
I was recommended to read this book and it lived up to the my expectations.
An interesting tale that I have not encountered before. Read more
An interesting tale that I have not encountered before. Read more
Published 1 month ago by grandmon
very enjoyable
Really enjoyed this book which reminded me that we don't always know why people behave/react the way they do but everyone has a story be it happy or sad.
Published 1 month ago by bookworm
Fab
All knitters know how the rhythm is cathartic I would recommend this book to knitters and non knitters alike a beautiful story about friends pulling together
Published 1 month ago by Just
How to save a life
Excellent book, really well written, good tear breaker! It could of so easily become another 'holiday book' but I really enjoyed this. Well written, interesting, and very sweet.
Published 1 month ago by L. J. Stockwell
A great read
Really enjoyed reading this on holiday. Easy going with a plausable story behind each of the characters. Was even thinking about taking up knitting by the final chapter!
Published 1 month ago by Ishbel Mackinnon
Made me think, I'm not the only one with problems
Wow, I've not read a book for quite some time that made me think about the fact that maybe others around me have also problems. Read more
Published 1 month ago by kelster
LOVED IT!
I absolutely adore this book... and to be honest, I really didn't expect to. Definitely one of the best books I've read in a long long time. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Geordiegirl
Review of The Knitting Circle
The characters were well described and built as the story progressed. It kept my interest throughout as there were surprise developments but it was sad. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Nanshirl
Moving and well written
This book deals with loss of various different types - bereavement, divorce etc as well as much more subtle types of loss -as experienced by a small number of central characters. Read more
Published 2 months ago by puffpuff
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