Marie Bostwick

At twenty-seven, fleeing an abusive marriage with little more than her kids and the clothes on her back, Ivy Peterman figures she has nowhere to go but up. Quaint, historic New Bern, Connecticut, seems as good a place as any to start fresh. With a part-time job at the Cobbled Court Quilt Shop and budding friendships, Ivy feels hopeful for the first time in ages. But when a popular quilting TV show is taped at the quilt shop, Ivy's unwitting appearance...

"Margaret Ryan never really meant to start a book club . . . or a feminist revolution in her buttoned-up suburb"-- Provided by publisher. By early 1960s standards, Margaret Ryan, Viv Buschetti, and Bitsy Cobb, suburban housewives in a brand-new "planned community" in Northern Virginia, appear to have it all. The fact that "all" doesn't feel like enough leaves them feeling confused and guilty, certain the fault must lie with them. Things begin to...

When tragedy threatens to tear her family apart, Margot Matthews discovers that her friendship with the new female pastor and her quilting sisterhood are the only things holding her together as she tries to piece back together her life.

"Years of long workdays ... as a political campaigner are about to pay off now that Lucy Toomey's boss is entering the White House. But when her estranged older sister, Alice, unexpectedly dies, Lucy is drawn back to Nilson's Bay, her small, close knit Wisconsin hometown. An accident in her teens left Alice mentally impaired, and she was content to stay in Nilson's Bay. Lucy ... got out and never looked back. Now, ... Lucy has taken up temporary residence...

Hope Carpenter finds new purpose in a new phase of life when her husband's forced retirement strains both their savings and their marriage. Seeking inspiration and a financial boost, Hope gets a job teaching crafts to inmates at a local women's prison with surprising results. At first, Hope feels foolish and irrelevant, struggling to relate to women whose choices seem so different from her own. But with time, and the encouragement of the prison chaplain,...

"Twice in her life, college counsellor Gayla Oliver fell in love at first sight. The first time was with Brian - a lean, longhaired, British bass player. Marriage followed quickly, then twins, and gradually their bohemian lifestyle gave way to busy careers in New York. Gayla's second love affair is with New Bern, Connecticut. Like Brian, the laid back town is charming without trying too hard. It's the ideal place to buy a second home and reignite...

"Minerva Promise claimed that her three "test tube" daughters--gifted pianist Joanie, artistic Meg, and storyteller Avery--were engineered and molded to be geniuses. Now twenty years later, the sisters reluctantly agree to take part in a documentary that will reveal secrets and spur them to forge their own extraordinary lives at last"-- Provided by publisher.

"Celia Fairchild, known as advice columnist 'Dear Calpurnia,' has insight into everybody's problems - except her own. Still bruised by the end of a marriage she thought was her last chance to create a family, Celia receives an unexpected answer to a "Dear Birthmother" letter. Celia throws herself into proving she's perfect adoptive mother material - with a stable home and income - only to lose her job. Her one option: sell the Charleston house left...

"Fields of gold" tells the story of Evangeline Glennon, a young woman who is certain her future in Dillon, Oklahoma will be as predictable and flat as the miles of wheat that stretch from her front door to the edge of horizon. She is wrong.