By Sandy Amazeen Dec 14, 2008, 23:56 GMT
Jacobs sequel to The Friday Night Knitting Club returns to the busy Manhattan, Walker and Daughter knitting shop, now without Georgia Walker who succumbed to ovarian cancer nearly a year ago. Dakota, Georgia’s biracial daughter is a freshman at NYU and while she enjoys the company of women in the knitting club, has little interest in running the shop her mother worked so hard to establish. Peri, the store’s manager is feeling the pressure of running and renovating the shop while working on developing her growing purse business.
The other members of the knitting club are facing challenges as well. After trying to start a family for five years, Darwin is terrified to allow herself to be happy about the twins she is expecting. After a successful delivery, she must balance a teaching career with the demands of motherhood, including a seriously meddlesome mother-in-law. Lucie wanted a child and after a one-night stand, got her wish in spades. Her young daughter Ginger is a bright, endlessly inquisitive child with boundless energy. Lucie’s film career is about to take off with her latest assignment in Italy, but how can she throw herself into her work and take care of Ginger? Despite a number of romantic entanglements, Catherine has yet to find true happiness. On the verge of starting a new relationship, Catherine is finally taking time to examine what she wants. Seventy-eight year old Anita is battling her grown sons for the freedom to sell the family apartment and remarry, KC is coping with the joys of hot flashes and her work as a lawyer and together, all of them will find the support and courage to grow in surprising ways.
Readers attuned to a diet of action/adventure stories will find the pace of this sweet tale a bit slow, especially at the beginning as the characters are sketched in. The women and the men who share their lives are finely developed making it easy to feel a connection to the everyday challenges they face. Despite the title, being knit savvy is unnecessary to the enjoyment of this warm, heartfelt tale that reveals the potential for growth no matter what your age.
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