Stitches & Stories is a collaboration between Jo from The Bobbin Sisters (Backfold, Hay-on-Wye) and Jules at North Books. We thought a book group of crafters who sit and discuss books while they work alongside each other would be rather fun. Jo takes the credit for coming up with the textile-themed books.
The group meets on the third Thursday of every alternate month from 4pm to 6pm, and refreshments will be included.
Bring a stitching project with you and don’t forget to read the book in advance! See below.
JOIN THE CLUB
The book club meetings are seated events, so places are limited, and events can get pretty full. Please email Jules on jules@northbooks.co.uk or pop into The Bobbins Sisters (currently on winter opening) to add your name to the list. Participation is free if the book is purchased in advance from North Books at a 10% discount.
At North Books, 4 Castle Street, Hay-on-Wye on Thursday 18 April, 4–6pm.
THE BOOK
The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier is the third book on S&S24 reading list
The third novel of 2024 up for discussion on Thursday 20 June is The Last Runaway by Tracey Chevalier. This book is available from North Books now.
In bestselling author (Girl With A Pearl Earring) Tracy Chevalier’s newest historical saga, she introduces Honor Bright, a modest English Quaker who moves to Ohio in 1850, only to find herself alienated and alone in a strange land. Sick from the moment she leaves England, and fleeing personal disappointment, she is forced by family tragedy to rely on strangers in a harsh, unfamiliar landscape.
Nineteenth-century America is practical, precarious, and unsentimental, and scarred by the continuing injustice of slavery. In her new home Honor discovers that principles count for little, even within a religious community meant to be committed to human equality.
However, drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom, Honor befriends two surprising women who embody the remarkable power of defiance. Eventually she must decide if she too can act on what she believes in, whatever the personal costs.
A powerful journey brimming with color and drama, The Last Runaway is Tracy Chevalier’s vivid engagement with an iconic part of American history.