Stitches in Time, by Barbara Michaels

After the overwhelming sexism of Golden Goddess, I was in need of reading something more... feminist, I guess. Stitches in Time, by Barbara Michaels, fit the bill nicely.

When an antique bridal quilt appears under mysterious circumstances at the vintage clothing shop where Rachel Grant works, she is fascinated. She has never been able to resist handmade textiles from the past, for she believes that through the ages, women wove protective magic into their fabrics in order to mark the important events of their lives: birth, marriage, and death.

But there is more than good in the quilt's magic power. Day by day Rachel sees and feels the power growing, as she senses the quilt influencing her thoughts and actions. Much as Rachel's logical mind longs to deny the supernatural, the aura of evil coming from the quilt is terrifyingly real, and it seems to carry a sinister legacy into the lives of the people Rachel loves.

Wonderful book! An A-.

I just love Michaels' voice, whether she's writing under that name or as Elizabeth Peters. Her sense of humour is witty and intelligent and cultured... definitely my kind of humour ;-) Actually, that would be an excellent description of this author's books!

Both plot and characters in this particular book were wonderful. Regarding the plot, I thought it was very original. I especially liked that though this was a paranormal, the manifestations themselves were pretty low-key. Not that I don't like it when Michaels has spirits materializing, and stuff like that, but this way of doing it was an interesting one. And the resolution, oh, dear, that was really sobering and fit in perfectly with the rest of the book. No black and white here.

As for the characters, I must confess I found Rachel a bit colourless at times, which was logical, actually, since her role in the whole investigation ended up being that of an observer, mostly. Still, by the end of the book she'd come into herself and became a more entertaining character. Adam, now, well, he was colourful and entertaining enough for three characters! That was one quirky, sweet guy.

The love story thread was more important here than in other Michaels books, and I liked it very much. Adam's declaration of love, for instance, was priceless! The way he tried to dissect and analyse all the components of his love was so wonderfully in character, and so endearing, at the same time!

I also enjoyed the secondary characters, especially Patrick, Ruth, Kara, Cheryl and Tony... oh, and how could I forget the dog, Alexander? Stitches in Time is linked to two other books, Ammie Come Home and Shattered Silk, and part of my enjoyment came from revisiting these characters from the other books.

I can't believe Michaels isn't writing more of these books now!