What if you told your story but no one believed you?

It's 1970 and Maria Romano has a story to tell as she once worked as a seamstress for the royal family. Unfortunately, events sent her life in an unexpected direction, one fraught with difficulty. Is she telling the truth about her past? Meanwhile in 2008, Caroline Meadows finds herself unexpectedly unemployed and a quilt from her grandmother reignites her love for design. What will she discover about the quilt's origins?

Liz Trenow weaves past and present together to paint a captivating story. Maria's story is told through a transcript of a cassette tape recording and it's fascinating to see how Liz Trenow handles Maria's reliability as a narrator. Her mental health status is considered questionable by the "experts" and it breaks my heart as a social worker when I read stories (even fictional) about such grave trespasses within the system. Caroline's story, while less entertaining to me, gave a framework for Maria's story to unfold and allows us to assess Maria's reliability as a narrator.

THE FORGOTTEN SEAMSTRESS is a well-written story that sheds light on the past history and abuses of the mental health system in the context of a beautiful, uplifting story of one woman's resiliency and strength. I love how we see this story unfold through the context of a quilt. While I have no knowledge of quilts or quilting, Liz Trenow offers sufficient background for me to thoroughly appreciate the intricate and delicate nature of this art. THE FORGOTTEN SEAMSTRESS is easily recommended to readers of historical women's fiction.