I have been reading A Tapestry of Light by Kimberly Duffy this week — what a great experience! The first half of the book is set in Calcutta in the late 1800s. Duffy wonderfully brought historic India to life for me. Now that main character Ottilie is in England, the stark contrast of that country with the vivid aliveness of India is not lost on her or the reader. This book will definitely be on the best of the best list for 2021. My review will be posted next week, but for now here is the first line:
Hardly anyone was buried at South Park Street Cemetery anymore, and yet Ottilie Russell had spent more time there during her twenty years than any other soul living in Calcutta.
Calcutta, 1886.
Ottilie Russell is adrift between two cultures, British and Indian, belonging to both and neither. In order to support her little brother, Thaddeus, and her grandmother, she relies upon her skills in beetle-wing embroidery that have been passed down to her through generations of Indian women.
When a stranger appears with the news that Thaddeus is now Baron Sunderson and must travel to England to take his place as a nobleman, Ottilie is shattered by the secrets that come to light. Despite her growing friendship with Everett Scott, friend to Ottilie’s English grandmother and aunt, she refuses to give up her brother. Then tragedy strikes, and she is forced to make a decision that will take Thaddeus far from death and herself far from home.
But betrayal and loss lurk in England, too, and soon Ottilie must fight to ensure Thaddeus doesn’t forget who he is, as well as find a way to stitch a place for herself in this foreign land.
Kimberly Duffy is a Long Island native currently living in Southwest Ohio. When she’s not homeschooling her four kids, she writes historical fiction that takes readers back in time and across oceans. Her books feature ahead-of-their-time heroines, evocative settings, and real-life faith. Kimberly loves trips that require a passport, recipe books, and practicing kissing scenes with her husband of 20 years. He doesn’t mind.
You can find Kimberly at:
Happy Friday! My first line is from “Beyond I Do” by Jennifer Slattery:
“Ainsley’s stomach churned as she eased into the Whispering Hills Apartments parking lot.”
My first line is from Hours to Kill by Susan Sleeman:
The brutal killer put a knife to her mother’s throat.
I want to read Tapestry so badly!