Over 100,000 copies sold‘A tapestry of strong characters and accomplished writing’ Herald ScotlandIt is 1911, and Jean is about to join the mass strike at the Singer factory. For her, nothing will be the same again.Decades later, in Edinburgh, Connie sews coded moments of her life into a notebook, as her mother did before her.More than 100 years after his grandmother’s sewing machine was made, … after his grandmother’s sewing machine was made, Fred discovers a treasure trove of documents. His family history is laid out before him in a patchwork of unfamiliar handwriting and colourful seams.
He starts to unpick the secrets of four generations, one stitch at a time.
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Interesting history of early industrialization of England, through the eyes of a man who inherits an antique sewing machine. Absorbing once you get into it. Interesting plot twists too.
This book at first was not clear to me what was it all about. But as I kept reading I became interested. It was weird how all of the different characters were intertwined. Great read.
A really fun and different read. I liked the thread of the sewing machine weaving its way through the lives and stories of the characters. It made it read a bit like a mystery and a bit like a family saga.
The Sewing Machine by Natalie Fergie has the description: One Sewing Machine. Two Families. Three secrets. Four generations.
The author was a career nurse turned fabric dyer and textile enthusiast. She was inspired to write this novel by a Singer 99K found near the Singer sewing factory where it was made, which she purchased for 20 pounds.
The Sewing Machine was crowd funded by subscription and published through Unbound. Readers can pledge for a book at unbound.com.
I thought it would be interesting to read a book that was published this way, and of course the focus on home sewing was a perk.
The story, set in Scotland, begins in 1911 and jumps across the century to 2016.
The world of each time setting is described, from the fortnightly shampoo and set to the refillable compact for woman’s facial powder, the rise of unions and WWI. As character Connie thinks, “the constant push to re-do and change was overwhelming sometimes.” Characters must adapt as the century brings huge changes. Nurses leave off starched hats and cuffs and pinned aprons for zipped uniforms and paper hats. I never considered the huge learning curve required when the hand cranked sewing machine was replaced by electric.
As an American, I was Goggling a variety of things to find their American equivalent. I got that a broadside was a newspaper and understood the concept of a boot sale. (That is not about low prices on winter books, but a flea market out of car trunks!) I had no idea of what a kirby grip is: it is a bobby pin.
In 1911 the Singer sewing machine factory workers in Clydebank, Scotland, organized for a strike. Factory worker Jean’s boyfriend Donald is a union organizer. Scientific Management was the new business model with its emphasis on efficiency and profit. The result was decreasing the number of workers thus increasing the work load. Jean’s father is anti-union and he turns her out of the house. When the strike fails, Jean and Donald leave town. But first she hides a secret note, wrapped tightly around a bobbin that is inserted into a new sewing machine. During WWI Donald “takes the king’s shilling” and joins the service.
In 1954 Connie, a nurse, is living with Kathleen, who has always sewn on an old Singer sewing machine which her first husband purchased for her. It outlasts the 1963 electric model bought by her second husband Alf. Connie decides to seek employment in the sewing department for the local “co-operative” hospital.
In 1980 Ruth is a nurse at the hospital. Unmarried and pregnant, she has been rejected by her parents. Jean has an accident and ends up in the hospital. She has a letter to be mailed and Ruth agrees to handle it. Meantime, a woman from the sewing department helps alter Ruth’s nursing uniform to hide the pregnancy.
In 2016 Fred has inherited his Granda Alf’s tenement apartment, complete with a cat and an old Singer sewing machine. Three generations have lived in the flat. Fred is unemployed and when he considers keeping the flat his girl dumps him. He learns to use the old Singer to remake Granda’s clothes and shoe bags for the neighbor kids.
The multiple time and story lines are a bit confusing at times, but this kind of plot structure is not unusual today. The scenes are full of period detail, told with a loving nostalgia about the old ways. Mysteries and relationships are revealed in the end, all tied to the Singer sewing machine.
Readers who are sewers will particularly enjoy this book, but also those who enjoy historical fiction, woman’s fiction, and character-driven plot lines.
I revived a free book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Creative theme and enjoyable reading
Unlike the Yellow Rolls Royce, with a similar premise, the story did not hold up well for me. I think more connection between generations would have been more interesting. I did finish it.
A history of three or four generations linked by one sewing machine.
My mother-in-law and her sister worked at Singer in Clydebank Scotland and it gave me an insight into their young lives before they came to America
The book was so interesting. It was a little hard to follow at first. It was telling stories of characters in different periods of time. I soon got the feeling that eventually their storie would all come together eventually. And they did, but that did not hurt the telling of the stories, it only made me eager to see how they all ended up.
For someone how owns a treddle sewing machine from my grandmother, and is also a sewing and a quilter, a very interesting book.
Very interesting about Singer Sewing machines.
A little difficult to get started, and keep the different characters meshed together. Well worth the effort. Good read.
As a sewist and the owner of a Singer Hand crank machine I loved this story.
It was very hard to follow on a kindle because you couldn’t go back to check something. Or at least I don’t know how to do that. But it was at least a little interesting and I finished the book. Not as interesting as I thought it would be according to reviews. An ok book.
I loved having a bit of sewing machine history as the stories of these people are stitched together as we read.
I a love to to sew and found this book interesting to read. Enjoyed the layers of personalities and different generations of a family clan!
A little hard to follow jumps between time periods. my fault, I put it down too long in between reads. Great character development, knowledge of the period sewing machines.
Fun to ser how the characters are interwoven.
Interesting story of how one Singer sewing machine ties together generations of several families. Easy to read, but sometimes the thread between the characters is not clear until later in the book. I had a bit of trouble keeping them all straight.
I loved reading this book….hoping the author writes another one!