About this item
Liz Trenow sews together the strands of past and present as delicately as the exquisite stitching on the quilt that forms the centerpiece of the story. Lucinda Riley, author of The Orchid House She Kept Her Secret for a Lifetime ... A shy girl with no family, Maria knows she's lucky to have landed in the sewing room of the royal household. Before World War I casts its shadow, she catches the eye of the Prince of Wales, a glamorous and intense gentleman. But her life takes a far darker turn, and soon all she has left is a fantastical story about her time at Buckingham Palace. Decades later, Caroline Meadows discovers a beautiful quilt in her mother's attic. When she can't figure out the meaning of the message embroidered into its lining, she embarks on a quest to reveal its mystery, a puzzle that only seems to grow more important to her own heart.
About the Author
For Liz's website go to www.liztrenow.com
For Liz's publishers go to www.sourcebooks.com
Liz Trenow's family have been silk weavers for nearly three hundred years, and she grew up in the house next to the mill in Suffolk, England, which still operates today, weaving for top-end fashion houses and royal commissions.
It was the recollections of Liz's father about how, during the Second World War, the mill worked night and day weaving parachute silk, that inspired her first novel, The Last Telegram. It is the story of Lily Verner, a young woman who has to grow up very quickly and learn to manage the stresses and trials behind the Home Front in the Second World War.
The love story at the heart of the novel is also based on real life events and characters. In 1939, when war was imminent, Liz's family were so concerned about the plight of their many Jewish friends and business colleagues in Europe that travel to England and work at the mill. One of them fell in love with a local girl and, after internment in Australia and fighting for the Allies in Burma, returned to work at the mill, married and had a family, and lived a long and happy life. Unfortunately the story in The Last Telegram is not quite so straightforward!
Liz says: 'It is a coming of age story, a tale of love and loss, and how we come to terms with the mistakes we make.'
Liz lives in Essex, England, with her sculptor husband, and has two grown-up daughters. As Liz Curry, she has worked as a journalist for national and regional newspapers, and for BBC radio and television news, followed by a career in PR and communications. She is now a full time writer. Her second and third novels, The Last Seamstress and The Poppy Factory, will be released in 2014 by HarperCollins.
'A beautifully moving love story, reminiscent in tone and subject of Nicholas Sparks's The Notebook, and Ian McEwan's Atonement, Lily's tale will resonate with fans of each.' Booklist
