Like most people in small towns, my daily life is woven between generations.
I
never remember a time when I said, "I'm not sure what to do or which way to
turn." I've always had relatives around, not only giving me advice, but
pushing
me in what they think is the right direction.
So when I began MORNINGS
ON
MAIN I knew I wanted to show those threads. My main character, Jillian,
steps into a town and a world foreign to her. She's a drifter who doesn't
pack
her even memories as she moved from place to place.
When Jillian takes a job in Laurel Springs, she finds far more than what she
planned. Eugenia Larady, Gram to her family, has owned a quilt shop for
fifty
years. The quilts lining her walls hold the history of the town and its
people.
As Gram's mind slips, Jillian rushes to log all the stories and quilts with
the
help of Eugenia's great-granddaughter, Sunny, who is hell bent to make her
own
wild memories as fast as possible. As the stories of lives in the town come
to
light, so do secrets and loves that have lasted a lifetime. Jillian is drawn
in
and forced to question her lifestyle.
When I began to write of the relationships, the love and the sacrifices of
the
people in Laurel Springs, I asked my friends, "How do you store your
memories?"
Do you save each one in pictures or letters? Do you bury all the bad
memories?
Do you make up parts the way you wish they would have happened?
In my book, MORNINGS ON
MAIN, Gram asks Sunny, "Will this boy you're stepping out with be worth
a
square if you make a quilt of your life."
I have a room in my house we call the quilt room. The walls are lined with
quilts made by my mother, my grandmother and my great-grandmother. I even
have
one made by my crazy Great Aunt Sally. The room always seems to welcome me
when
I step in. I think about their lives, the peaks and the valleys. In an odd
way,
they're still with me in the colorful quilts.
I'm the only one of my mother's daughters who did not learn to quilt. My
mother
only read my first book, but she loved it and said, "Jodi, you quilt with
words."
Jodi Thomas
New York Times bestselling author Jodi Thomas makes her original
trade paperback debut with this heartfelt piece of commercial women's
fiction,
perfect for fans of Debbie Macomber and Barbara Delinsky.
Jillian
James
has always been a nomad; she's never had a place she could call home. So
when
she lands in Lauralee, Texas—broke, friendless, alone—she's definitely not
expecting to stay. Desperate to make some quick cash before she moves on
again,
she uses her last dollar to place a notice in the local paper, advertising
herself as a literal "Jill of All Trades".
Michael Larady's elderly
mother has owned a quilting shop all her life, but lately she has struggled
increasingly with Alzheimer's. He faces the overwhelming task of closing her
shop and cataloguing her inventory, which ultimately represents her life's
work.
When he sees Jillian's ad, he seizes the opportunity for some help. As
Jillian
learns more about the stories behind each quilt, she grows close to
Michael's
mother, and a tender friendship between Jillian and Michael begins to
blossom
into something deeper.
Michael's seventeen-year-old daughter has
spent
her whole life in Lauralee, Texas, and she feels restless. When Jillian
moves to
town and begins helping to close the quilting shop, she represents travel,
adventure, excitement--a fascinating alternative to life in Lauralee.
Michael's
daughter has to ask herself: Is it possible to build a meaningful life in
your
hometown, or do you need to go farther afield to find yourself?
Weaving
together the powerful story of three generations of women looking for a
place to
belong, Mornings on Main asks us to consider how we make our
memories—what we remember, what we forget, what becomes part of our story—
and
reminds us that it's not where we live, it's how we live that counts.
Women's Fiction
[HQN, On Sale: April 10, 2018, Trade Size / e-Book,
ISBN: 9781335062956 / eISBN: 9781488029516]
Beautiful story about finding a life.
Jodi takes you to the Heart of Texas
Join me for
afternoon tea at BOAS & TIARAS on Saturday, June 9 in Allen, TX. Tickets now
available!
A fifth-generation Texan, New York Times
and
USA Today bestselling author Jodi Thomas chooses to set the
majority of
her novels in her home state, where her grandmother was born in a covered
wagon.
A former teacher, Thomas traces the beginning of her storytelling career to
the
days when her twin sisters were young and impressionable.
With a
degree in
family studies, Thomas is a marriage and family counselor by education, a
background that enables her to write about family dynamics. Honored in 2002
as a
Distinguished Alumni by Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Thomas enjoys
interacting with students on the West Texas A&M University campus, where
she
currently serves as Writer in Residence.
Commenting on her
contribution to
the arts, Thomas said, “When I was teaching classes full-time, I thought I
was
making the world a better place. Now I think of a teacher or nurse or mother
settling back and relaxing with one of my books. I want to take her away on
an
adventure that will entertain her. Maybe, in a small way, I’m still making
the
world a better place.”
When not working on a novel or inspiring
students
to pursue a writing career, Thomas enjoys traveling with her husband,
renovating
a historic home they bought in Amarillo and “checking up” on their two
grown
sons.
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