Staff Pick: Alice's Tulips

Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas

After her husband enlists in the Union army, newly married Alice Bullock and her cantankerous mother-in-law are left to tend the family farm. No stranger to hard work and responsibility, Alice undertakes her arduous tasks under the ever-watchful eye of the critical Mother Bullock. To temporarily relieve both her boredom and her fears, she indulges in two equally delightful hobbies: quilting and writing a series of diary-letters to her sister. Although her quilting provides her with a much-needed creative outlet, her matter-of-fact missives offer an often humorous glimpse at the uncertainty and daily hardships endured by women on the home front. When Alice becomes the primary suspect in a local murder, she and Mother Bullock form a previously unthinkable united front.
Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews