Endless Chain
Book Two in the Shenandoah Album Series
by Emilie Richards
List Price: $19.95
Pages: 464
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 0778321983
Publisher: MIRA Books
It's not easy to hope for the future when you're still running from the past.
Sam Kinkade is finally feeling at home as a minister in rural Toms Brook, Virginia, reasonably content with his life and Shenandoah Valley congregation. But his plans to welcome the area's growing Hispanic community to the church are suddenly met with resistance. Fortunately, when La Casa Amarilla, the church-run community center, is threatened, a stranger named Elisa Martinez walks through his door and Sam realizes he has found a woman capable of building bridges.
Elisa is an enigma. Although she slowly becomes involved in the community center, Sam is certain from her guarded manner that she is hiding something. Yet despite their growing friendship Elisa won't discuss her past. Sam is intrigued with that Latina stranger, a woman who, despite the differences in their backgrounds, makes him only too aware of the intimacy missing in his life.
Elisa isn't looking to make friends, let alone put down roots. She has come to hide. But despite her fears of discovery she is enchanted by the beautiful work of and the friendship offered by the church women who invite her to join their quilting circle. And even though she fears the consequences for both of them, she finds herself powerfully drawn to Sam.
As she waits and prays for a reunion that may set her free, Elisa is captivated by a generations-old love story. Will she and Sam repeat the past, or can they find the love and the freedom they seek at last?
With the warmth and comfort of a hand-made quilt, Endless Chain -- an exploration of the intricate patterns of family and community, and the threads that bind them together -- will envelop and welcome readers into the richness of life in the Shenandoah Valley.
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1. Reverend Sam Kinkade follows his conscience, even when that "still small voice" leads him places most people don't want to go. Can you sympathize with Sam's decisions even if you don't necessarily agree with them?
2. Elisa Martinez has reasons not to trust anyone. Can you imagine a life so secret that you can't reveal even the simplest things about yourself, even when you are falling in love?
3. The Shenandoah Community Church finds that its attempt to welcome Latinos to the community creates controversy in the congregation and town. What did you like about the church's attempts to assist these new residents? What didn't you like?
4. Elisa discovers the story of another woman "running" from danger, this time before the Civil War. Some historians believe that quilts were used on the Underground Railroad to tell escaping slaves that a house was a safe haven on the road to freedom. Does this seem plausible? Do you know other signs that were used along the way?
5. The women of the Shenandoah Community Church Wednesday Morning Quilting Bee and Social Gathering find friendship and acceptance as they quilt together in their "hive" each week. Women have always gathered in groups to work and play. What makes such a gathering special? What groups are important in your own life?
6. Quilts are more than a bed covering. Quilts are imbued with the choices of the quilt maker. Pattern, color, fabric, size, style, type and workmanship all go into making each quilt special and unique. Have you seen a quilt pattern, like Elisa's endless chain quilt, that spoke to you the moment you glimpsed it? Do you have a quilt in your life made by someone special? If not a quilt, any handmade item that you treasure for more than its appearance, for the story it tells?
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