Summary

From Frances O'Roark Dowell -- bestselling author of Dovey Coe, Trouble the Water, The Secret Language of Girls, and other "beloved books for tweens and teenagers" (New York Times Sunday Book Review) -- comes Birds in the Air, her first novel for adults. In the tradition of Marie Bostwick and Jennifer Chiaverini, Frances O'Roark Dowell combines her deep connection to the quilting life and her love of storytelling to create a novel about the abiding friendships that bind together a community of women who share a love of making quilts.When Emma Byrd moves to the house of her dreams in the small mountain community of Sweet Anne's Gap, North Carolina, she knows she'll have to do some work in order to connect to her neighbors. Her kids immediately make friends at school and her husband loves his new job. But Emma -- no natural when it comes to talking to strangers to begin with -- will have to try harder, especially after the sweet, white-haired neighbor she first visits slams the door in her face. Luckily, a few of the quilters of Sweet Anne's Gap adopt Emma and she soon finds herself organizing the quilt show for the town's centennial celebration. But not everyone is happy to see the job go to an outsider, especially one who has befriended an outcast pursuing her own last best chance at redemption. With Birds in the Air, Frances O'Roark Dowell (winner of the Edgar Award, the William Allen White Award and the Christopher Medal) has created a warm, funny novel about fitting in, falling out and mending frayed relationships one stitch at a time.