Attorneys of Dallas

The Persian Pickle Club

Description

It is the 1930s, and hard times have hit Harveyville, Kansas, where the crops are burning up, and there's not a job to be found. For Queenie Bean, a young farm wife, a highlight of each week is the gathering of the Persian Pickle Club, a group of local ladies dedicated to improving their minds, exchanging gossip, and putting their quilting skills to good use. When a new member of the club stirs up a dark secret, the women must band together to support and protect one another. In her magical, memorable novel, Sandra Dallas explores the ties that unite women through good times and bad.

Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-08-14
Summary: "Thread of Life"

This wonderful book is a snapshot of life about women, as seen through their eyes during lean times. The events depicted here, could take place anywhere in our country. We are witnessing an exercise in how subtleties of our culture are handled by women with particular emphasis on their family, friends, and everyday activities. Throughout the book,the reader feels as if looking over the shoulder into each scene. Readers respond to, without actions or opinions known unless shared, each conversation or event, every unique yet somehow common character and personality the author has portraited. Savor the way every incident creates 'a bird's eye view' of life as it unfolds for The Persian Pickle Club.

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Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-07-19
Summary: "Takes you back to a simpler time..."

This 1930's Depression-era novel is Sandra Dallas' second book. The setting is Kansas, in the small farming community of Harveyville. It's the time of the Dust Bowl, hot weather, little or no rain, crops burning up in the fields. There are no jobs and farming families had little money, but at least they usually had food and each other.

Queenie Bean is a young farmer's wife who gets together once a week with her lady friends to quilt, gossip and improve their minds. They call themselves The Persian Pickle Club, named after a bolt of paisley fabric that one of the older members bought many years before. Scraps of the cloth have been shared among the members a little at time in order to enrich and decorate the quilts that they all spend their free time designing and sewing. Queenie, the "talkingest" one of the group, is the narrator of this story, chock full of local flavor and Depression-era memories. A new bride has come to be part of their circle and her inclusion will bring to light stories of good times and also secrets that the group has hidden, except from each other. At the end of the book, each woman has changed in some way, but they've all grown stronger and more committed to support and cherish each other as they stitch and share.

Sandra Dallas is an very talented writer that has deserved wider acclaim for many years, in my opinion. She writes historical novels, usually set in the Midwest, with such charm and authenticity, they simply beg to be read.

I loved the quilters in The Persian Pickle Club. It was almost like listening to my grandmothers and their sisters talk as they sewed and stitched. They were no-nonsense women who possessed such kind hearts, sometimes under a rather gruff exterior. They would share whatever they had with each other and offer unswerving loyalty in hard times. They were there for each other when there was sickness, death, births, and special occasions, always toting some kind of food to share. Their sense of community is hard to match in these days of high technology and constant relocation. The Persian Pickle Club will take you back to a simpler style of living, even if life still has problems and especially secrets.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-05-13
Summary: "okiepm"

I really enjoyed this book, Since I love to quilt AND used to belong to a quilting bee, it was as I WAS BACK 50 YEARS IN TIME.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-01-28
Summary: "Quilting and Life Unfold in this story of the 1930s"

I was intrigued by this novel's setting and time period (Kansas in the 1930s) as I'd just finished working on my mother's memoir set in the same locale and period. The appeal of this story goes beyond just the regional appeal, as the story unfolds to show the ways women support each other during lean times. This certainly has a message that's important during hard economic times.
At first I had trouble sorting out who was who in this 1930s ladies quilting circle. It was worth it to persist, as the story unfolded to include a mystery about the disappearance of one member's husband. The story unfolds through the viewpoint of Queenie Bean, a young housewife who takes pride in her quilting and in putting a good meal on the table for her farmer husband. She works at developing a friendship with a young woman who's new to the area and the quilting group. The unsettling influence of a newcomer to the Persian Pickle Club leads to friction in the group and eventually the uncovering of a carefully hidden secret.
Along the way, the reader learns a lot about the deprivations of the 1930s with farmers losing their land and homeless people asking for handouts. This homespun story of women helping each other out during the hardships of the Great Depression is a "good read."

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Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2009-11-26
Summary: "Slow paced book..themes related to friendship and quilting"

I read this book after reading and enjoying The Diary of Mattie Spenser by the same author. This was a slow paced book and the plot was hard to follow at first. I found the character development weak and it was hard to keep all of the characters straight through to the end of the book. I enjoyed the main character Queenie and the themes of friendship and quilting.