Book Reviews
Continuing the warm-and-fuzzy saga begun in her popular The Friday Night Knitting Club, Jacobs stitches together another winning tale of the New York City knitting circle, more a sisterhood than a hobby group (the irascible Darwin Chiu can't even really knit). In this installment—and it does feel like an installment—readers catch up five years after the unexpected, book-capping death of club leader (and knitting shop owner) Georgia Walker. Georgia's 18-year-old Dakota is at NYU, discovering her first love, while her father James and Georgia's best friend Catherine are still coming to terms. The rest of the cast runs a wide gamut of ages and experience, but is easier to follow this time around, as Jacobs is more comfortable giving them more space and backstory. Pregnant, whip-smart professor Darwin and her husband, Dan, are welcoming twins; video director and single mom Lucie is coping with a hyperactive 5-year-old and a failing parent; Georgia's old mentor, the wise Anita, begins questioning her own motives; and everyone's stories cross paths in satisfying, organic ways. A trip to Italy provides some forward motion, and pays off in a charming denouementthat nevertheless pushes a familiar it's-the-journey-not-the-destination message; still, this sequel is as comforting, enveloping and warm as a well-crafted afghan.
Publishers Weekly
Jacobs's sequel delves into the lives of characters first introduced in the popular The Friday Night Knitting Club. Five years after Georgia has died of ovarian cancer, her daughter Dakota and various members of Georgia's knitting club still occasionally meet at her knit shop. On the surface, the story is about what has happened to these women who formed deep bonds of friendship while learning to knit. Yet it really investigates grief and how each of the characters learns to come to terms with the loss of Georgia. Readers might find some of the events a tad un-realistic and the individual plotlines for each character a touch predictable as they develop and intertwine. Still, the novel's humor and pathos manage to make the women and especially Dakota very real and enjoyable to know. Knitting is not completely forgotten, as readers are left with a sense of how the craft has calmed these souls as they journey through their individual stories of acceptance and personal growth. Fans of Debbie Macomber's "Blossom Street" series (The Shop on Blossom Street, A Good Yarn, Back on Blossom Street, and Twenty Wishes) will find much to enjoy here.
Margaret Hanes - Library Journal
Jacobs’ follow-up to the popular novel The Friday Night Knitting Club (2007) opens five years after Georgia Walker’s tragic death from ovarian cancer. Her daughter, Dakota, is now a freshman at NYU, and Georgia’s former employee, Peri, is running Georgia’s yarn shop.... Reading Jacobs’ second knitting novel is as warming and cheering as visiting old friends. —Kristine Huntley
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