Sewing Can Be Dangerous and Other Small Threads

Liberal garbage and no story telling skill

BOOK REVIEW:

Rather than the review of the book as a whole, it will do justice to give a few comments about each individual story because every single story has a unique element.

Sewing Can Be Dangerous:
It is a tale that takes people back to the past in its writing. The dialogues (with the nativity pertaining to that particular time) are well written. The story is chilling enough and brings the violent scenes of the fire accident right before the eyes as if they were happening in the present. The twist, though predictable for seasoned readers is a real treat and the main point of the story.

A Drunkard's Path:
Starting off as a normal happy tale, this sets the scene where you keep expecting something sinister to happen. And it does happen, though not in a really obvious blood curdling way. Narrated (once again) in past, the back story gives definite goose bumps, if not for being real, at least for explaining in a very realistic way the Salem Witch Trials.

Lettie's Tale:
Lettie is a black slave. Set in the backdrop of the plantations in America when slavery was a big issue, this story is thrilling, undeniably fast paced and with nice twists. I will never look at a quilt the same way again.

The Comforter:
Irony at its best. The real point of the story isn't visible until the last line. But surely, one of the best stories about Nazi Germany that has been written without being too gory but getting the point across.

A Plague on Both Your Houses:
A beautifully scripted love story between two individuals who are unlikely to meet, much less fall in love. The initial pages, where the comparison between Lizzy and Mark are written are classic if you are able to follow the sudden switches between characters. A feel good story.

Border Windfalls:
A story about a righteous doctor who wants to cure cleft lips falling into a mexican drug cartel. But the whole poignant mood of the story is simply crafted to say that sometimes even the worst of situations bring out the best for people.

Emma At Night:
A story of English nobility, set in fifteenth century England, and a plot to overthrow the King, Richard the Lionhearted. It is the tale of a brave seamstress who helps hatch a brilliant plan to inform the King's High Minister about the treachery, thereby saving the ruler. The archaic language is the highlight of the story.

Murder She Sewed:
A brilliantly written piece about a cruise ship homicide. A quilter and a NYPD detective are on a cruise for their own vacationing reasons and when the murder happens, who solves it forms the rest of the story. It is slightly predictable with linear progression but it is a good read.

Precious Gifts:
A woman's obsession with a sewing machine, and the events that follow! Simply written, story's depth is the best point.

Lyla's Summer Of Love:
If anything, this story attracts the readers with its title. And the content doesn't disappoint either. This story has all the elements of a racy read!

Nightmare at Four Corners:
Helen and her article - enough said. The title sounds ominous enough and the story follows with quick twists and turns. A fitting end to a unique book.

Overall comments:
The book is one of the most unique I have read in recent times. Almost every story has a sewing link (pun intended) and the title seems apt. The stories seem to have been handpicked and the language is great, save a few typos. The best dark stories can be woven using words that have the capability to send chills down the reader's spine. Go for this book if you like your stories peppered with dark emotions. A brilliant read.

Sarah Mallery’s collection of short stories is absolutely superb. Don’t be misled by the title. This is NOT a collection of tales about little old ladies sitting around drinking dandelion and burdock and darning socks.

Far from it. The stories are so diverse that they include a murder aboard a cruise ship, escape from a slave plantation in the deep south of America, threats to kill Richard the Lionheart in the Middle Ages, a Native American wrongly accused of murder, a love affair and a murder during the Summer of Love in Haight Ashbury, a witches’ curse, Jews escaping from the Nazis, a fire in a New York garment factory, settlers in the Wild West and so on. And I so loved these tales!!

Mallery is a superb storyteller, but here we have much more than that for she often weaves past and present so skilfully that they dovetail into a ‘Cold Case’ effect.

Normally by the time a book’s coming to an end I get to the stage where I wish it would kind of hurry up a little bit, and I’m looking forward to starting the next one. Not so with ‘Sewing’ for I was genuinely sad when I reached the end. There truly seems to be no limit to Mallery’s imagination. You feel you could pick any subject out of the blue and ask her to write a detective story or a murder mystery story or a secret love affair story around it and she’d say, “Okay, I’ll have it done by Friday,” and just crack on with it.

A cracking book in the true storyteller’s tradition. And one I highly recommend.

This may have been one of the most unique collections of stories I've ever had the pleasure of reading. 11 shorts combined into one tapestry, Mallery takes readers on a journey through history. What I loved best about this book was that theme of women and their contributions to history which literally wove the quilt of the book together. Each story was completely different but it was that simple theme that connected them for me and made this gem stand out. Highly recommend to historical fiction lovers and anyone who loves a well-written collections of shorts.

The book came in perfect condition