A Quilting of Scars Review from Trish Talks Books

My Quick Take: A sensitive portrait of a man from over a century ago whose utter decency wars with his closely held secrets. 

Trish Talks Books

This is the second book by @lucyemblack that I’ve read, and I’m a fan! The first was The Brickworks and I was impressed by her skill at writing about male friendship. In her newest book, she writes her male protagonist Larkin Beattie with such sensitivity that I was entirely absorbed.

In Ontario in the early 1900s this short novel plays out over a day in the life of Larkin, as he goes about his largely solitary routine on his farm. He’s a fifty-one year old bachelor and his parents have died a while ago. It’s a medium-paced piece that succeeded in immersing me in Larkin’s life; as the day progresses he reminisces, which serves to show the reader his backstory. Black was able to build some mystery and tension into the narrative which kept me reading. I also loved simply spending a day on the farm with Larkin and his horses.

But what really struck me was the portrait of a man who emerges as such a thoroughly decent human being, while at the same time burdened by secrets he’s kept his whole life. I liked Larkin so much, and would love to sit down with him over a meal and have a conversation, perhaps about the horses on his farm that he loves so dearly, or about his very supportive parents and the stories about them he cherishes. Indeed, the book also functions as a love letter from Larkin to his parents, and a tribute to what supportive parenting can do for a child…and what it can’t.

Because of this tension, the novel was a success in developing an emotional resonance in me, one that blended a sense of happiness and sadness all at once. There is a generational feel about the novel, and a sense of both the slowness of time and its speedy passing.

A Quilting of Scars is about actual wounds and scars that people carry, but also about the more difficult to discern emotional scars that are an inevitable part of our lives. It was a great novel and I hope you’ll consider picking it up.