The Persian Pickle Club

★★★★★★★½☆☆ 7.5/10

207 pages

What’s it about?

This story is set a small farming town in Kansas during the 1930’s.  It is the height of the depression when Tom and his new wife Rita arrive back to his parent’s farm. No one is happier than Queenie (who is married to Tom’s best friend).  Rita is immediately welcomed into the local quilting circle and soon learns all about friendship in a small Kansas community.

What did it make me think about?

It seems like women helping other women has been a common theme in my last few books.

Should I read it?

This was just a delightful little story.  It was as folksy as you can get (almost how I would imagine Dolly Parton would write a book).  But it was a compelling story and Sandra Dallas did a great job of creating the setting. She adds in a little mystery to keep the plot going and creates a group of women that you will root for.  This is a good choice for historical fiction fans.

A passage I marked

“I’d never met a woman who didn’t sew.  None of us had, and we stared at her again, until Ceres Root said with a nice smile, ‘You modern women have so many interesting things to do.  In this day and age, there’s no good reason to make thirteen quilt tops before you marry, like I had to when I was a girl.’  We all nodded, except for Mrs. Judd, who wasn’t one for making excuses for other people. Agnes T. Ritter didn’t nod, either.  A hundred quilt tops wouldn’t help her find a husband.”