Other editions of book Knitting

It's been 10 months since Jack died, and Sandra, a tightly wound academic, copes with her grief by immersing herself in the history of textiles. When she and Martha, a gifted knitter, meet over an unconscious body on the footpath, the unlikely threads of their lives tangle into each other. Sandra invites Martha to join her in a professional collaboration, but what begins as a working relationship becomes something deeply personal. Martha seems at ease with herself, in spite of her own experience of grief. But what does she carry around in those three large bags?

“In the tradition of Anita Brookner and Barbara Pym, Anne Bartlett has written a sly, stirring look at women’s lives” (Meg Wolitzer, author of The Female Persuasion). Sandra, a rigid academic, is struggling to navigate the world after losing her husband to cancer. Martha, a self-taught textile artist with her own secret store of grief, spends her days knitting elaborate projects charged with personal meaning. After a chance meeting sparks a friendship between these two very different women, they begin to collaborate—leading to surprising events that will help heal them both, in a novel of “subtle beauty” (The Washington Post). “A moving story about true love and haunting grief.” —Adriana Trigiani “A wonderful tale . . . deeply satisfying.” —Connie May Fowler “An experience as sensual and mystical as plunging your hands into skeins of wool and color . . . A joyful narrative of creating and connecting.” —Sena Jeter Naslund

In Anne Bartlett’s engaging novel, a chance meeting sparks a friendship between two very different women who share a fascination with knitting. Sandra, a rigid academic, struggles to navigate the world without her husband, whom she has recently lost to cancer. Martha—a self-taught textile artist with her own secret store of grief—spends her days knitting elaborate projects charged with personal meaning. As the two women collaborate on a new project, surprising events will help heal them both.

In Anne Bartlett’s engaging novel, a chance meeting sparks a friendship between two very different women who share a fascination with knitting. Sandra, a rigid academic, struggles to navigate the world without her husband, whom she has recently lost to cancer. Martha—a self-taught textile artist with her own secret store of grief—spends her days knitting elaborate projects charged with personal meaning. As the two women collaborate on a new project, surprising events will help heal them both.

It’s been ten months since Jack died, and Sandra, a tightly wound academic, copes with her grief by immersing herself in the history of textiles. When she and Martha, a gifted knitter, meet over an unconscious body on the footpath, the unlikely threads of their lives tangle into each other. Sandra invites Martha to join her in a professional collaboration, but what begins as a working relationship becomes something deeply personal. Martha seems at ease with herself, in spite of her own experience of grief. But what does she carry around in those three large bags?

It’s been ten months since Jack died, and Sandra, a tightly wound academic, copes with her grief by immersing herself in the history of textiles. When she and Martha, a gifted knitter, meet over an unconscious body on the footpath, the unlikely threads of their lives tangle into each other. Sandra invites Martha to join her in a professional collaboration, but what begins as a working relationship becomes something deeply personal. Martha seems at ease with herself, in spite of her own experience of grief. But what does she carry around in those three large bags?

"Spinning, weaving, knitting, all part of the long tradition of women’s work, skills that had survived even the efficiency of the industrial revolution. Why did people still do it?"It’s been ten months since Jack died. For his widow, Sandra, a tightly wound teacher who thinks long and hard about such questions, the months have tested her belief that she can continue her ordered life without Jack. She feels as though she’s covered in ice-cold glass and will never be warm again. Knitting is the story of what happens when Sandra meets a woman who is her polar opposite on a sidewalk when they both stop to help a man in distress. While Sandra’s grief has constrained her spirit, Martha -- who lost her husband years before -- appears to wear her grief lightly. Sandra’s talent for the domestic arts lies in studying them; Martha is a brilliantly gifted knitter, a self-educated artist. When Sandra persuades Martha to help her mount an exhibition of retro and contemporary knitting, the two women’s lives tangle, with astonishing ramifications. What begins as a professional collaboration becomes something transformative and deeply personal. Anne Bartlett weaves a story that is seamless in its exploration of healing, grace, and the search for meaning, both within oneself and in the larger community. Readers will find much to admire in Sandra’s struggle to break out of her shell and much to wonder at in Martha’s visionary spirit. Knitting marks the debut of a writer whose work puts her in the company of writers such as Carol Shields, Barbara Kingsolver, and Louise Erdrich.

When Sandra is widowed tragically early in her early 40s, with no children to distract her, and a career as a college lecturer only keeping her mildly busy, she feels she needs a new direction in her life. This comes in the unlikely shape of Martha, a woman she meets completely randomly when they both stop to help in a medical emergency in a shopping mall. Martha has also experienced grief, but appears to have worked it through. She is also a keen, talented, but almost obsessive knitter, who lives and breathes her skill. Sandra is fascinated by her work, and eager to develop other strands to her career, decides to organise an exhibition on the history of women's clothing and textiles, asking Martha to help her by creating replicas of various items. What follows is not a conventional friendship, nor a conventional healing, but whatever it is, it changes Sandra's life very much for the better...