A Sky without Stars by Linda S. Clare

As I've said about every book in this series, I really like the Quilts of Love series.  I have quite a fondness for quilts and really enjoy making them so I like to know the stories behind them.  I can't help but think of some of these stories when I look at my own quilts and then I like to  remember my story while I was making that quilt.


I like how there is a broad range of people that have been in this series and who have all shared one passion....quilts.  The commonality of quilts has now bridged over to the Native Americans in this book.  It was fun to think of them having these beautiful quilts, because I honestly think of the Amish and quilts!  I liked this new story of how this one woman preserved her heritage with a quilt and a star.


The story of finding the balance between living as a Lakota and a Christian is fascinating.  For Frankie Chasing Bear, who has a jaded view of Christianity some because of how her parents were treated and made to convert, I get the feeling she truly does want to believe.  However, due to the horrible things that she's seen and heard, she sees how the Christians contradicted their faith. 


I liked Nick and could understand Lakota's suspicion and wariness with him.  I could also understand why she wanted to preserve the Lakota star for her son and the importance of the quilt.  I liked imagining him telling his children the story behind this quilt.  It would no doubt be filled with stories of how his mother learned how to live in 2 cultures and bridged the gap between both.


Once again, another great book in this series.  Can't wait to see what comes out next and what type of character fills the pages in it!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Linda S. Clare is an award-winning author and coauthor of several books and has also published many essays, stories, and poems in publications, including The Christian Reader, The Denver Post, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Her most recent book is A Sky without Stars, the newest release in Abingdon’s Quilts of Love line. Born in Arizona, Linda and her husband now make their home in Eugene, Oregon, where Linda has taught college-level creative writing classes, and writes, edits, and mentors other writers. She also is a frequent writing conference presenter, a church retreat leader, and mom to four grown children and five wayward cats.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Frankie Chasing Bear is caught between cultures. She wants to raise her son Harold to revere his Lakota heritage, but she also thinks he will need to learn the white man’s ways to succeed. After the untimely death of her husband, Frankie joins the U.S. Government’s Relocation Program and moves to Arizona. There she begins sewing a Lakota Star pattern quilt for Harold with tribal wisdom sung, sewn, and prayed into it. A bed without a quilt is like a sky without stars, but neither the quilt—nor her new life—comes easily to Frankie. Nick Vandergriff, for instance, is the last man Frankie wants to trust. He’s half-Lakota but Christian, and Frankie can see no good coming from that faith after her own parents were forced to convert at an Indian school. Can Nick convince Frankie that white men and Christians aren’t all bad? And will Frankie learn that love is the most important ingredient—for her son’s quilt and life itself?


If you would like to read the first chapter of A Sky Without Stars, go HERE.
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I received this book free from CFBA and Abingdon Press in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.