A Stitch in Air: A Novel (The Americas Series) - Softcover

Carlson, Lori Marie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0896728137 ISBN 13: 9780896728134

Publisher: Texas Tech University Press, 2013

Synopsis

The venerable Convent of Saint Margaret in Granada is the stage for many things: Catholic devotion, the art of lacemaking, magic, and amorous passion. It is The Golden Age in Spain, that glorious time of creativity, as well as ambiguity. And the beautiful Moorish palace, the Alhambra, adds a special enchantment to the backdrop.
            Adela, a young postulant of Jewish origin, suffers the death of her Mozarabic teacher, Milagros, at the beginning of this tale. But Milagros leaves her beloved pupil with a legacy of secrets that will guide her as she meets the challenges of adulthood. When Adela encounters the great playwright, Hernán de Vigo who, unbeknownst to the sisterhood, has come to the convent by order of the Inquisition to investigate claims of heresy, her life changes forever. Hernán de Vigo, who is also a priest, discovers that the convent is a most unusual place. Many of its inhabitants are disgruntled nuns who find solace and comfort in delicious food and frivolity, the protection of the Virgin Mary, and dreams of love. The abbess, herself, is a most independent-minded woman who fervently believes in justice. And so the drama and comedy begin!
            When all hell breaks loose—including a major flood in the convent—the sisterhood of Saint Margaret discovers its true purpose on earth.

About this title

About the Author:

Lori Marie Carlson has published sixteen books, including the landmark anthology, Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing Up Latino in the U.S. A professor in the English department at Duke University, she is married to the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos. lorimariecarlson.com

Review:

Magnificently written . . . this novel will delight, inspire, and reflect upon many contemporary issues like the life of women in seclusion. --Marjorie Agosin, Luella LaMer Slaner Professor in Latin American Studies, Wellesley College

A beautiful novel, with a plot as intricate and prose as beautiful as the Spanish lace made by its main character.  Its suspenseful narrative draws you in and keeps you on edge, principally because its characters and its historical setting seem all too real.  Simply wonderful. --Carlos Eire, author of Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy, winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction

Lori Carlson's A Stitch in Air begins inside an enlightened convent in sixteenth-century Granada. The intricacy of the sisters' art of lacemaking parallels the complex time of a flourishing era in Spain as it turns toward the inquisition. Carlson's lyrical and precise prose is pitch-perfect for conveying sensuous textures, rich historical background, and the inner lives of her intriguing characters, particularly a talented young girl of mysterious origins. A transporting and fascinating read. --Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun

Stunning . . . A Stitch in Air floats over sixteenth century Granada, capturing the intrigues of the Convent of St. Margaret, with its delicious foods and pungent smells of Al Andalus. The characters are very real. Lori Marie Carlson has a deft wit, and she braids intense Spanish eroticism, The Catholic Church, Spanish pragmatism, its multiple religions, its literature, and its art into sheer delight. –Barbara Probst Solomon, correspondent to El Pais; author of Short Flights and the upcoming King of Paris

 

About this edition

• Publisher: Texas Tech University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0896728137
• ISBN 13: 9780896728134
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256