The Runaway Quilt (Elm Creek Quilters Novels) by Jennifer Chaverini

This was a beautiful story, and for me the series of books gets better and better.

Sylvia is approached by a fellow quilter and shown a quilt named the Elm Creek Quilt. There is not obvious connection between the two women, but Sylvia's curosity is aroused and upon her return to Elm Creek she searches in the attic for the chest that legend has it contains several quilts. The chest indeed does contain quilts, three of them, and a journal. The memoirs of her great aunt, Gerda Bergstrom.

The memoirs reveal the early life of Gerda and her brother, their connection to a local family who became their friends and the story of Gerda's love for a local doctor. Through what is a terbulant time in American history, leading to the abolishion of slavery and the part Sylvia's family played in it. Summer, one of the Elm Creek quilters assists in searching at the local archives and soon, much of what is written in the memoirs is confirmed through other sources.

Although Jennifer Chiaverini states that this is a work of fiction, I can't help but wonder if there is just a strain of truth as the foundations for her book. Perhaps a diary or folklore than she has come across?