First Chapter Review: The Moses Quilt by Kathi Macias

The Moses Quilt is a contemporary women's fiction novel by multi-award-winning Christian author Kathi Macias. This book was recently voted the January Fiction Book of the Month by The Book Club Network. Kathi is on tour with this novel with Pump Up Your Book.

BLURB: The Moses Quilt is a contemporary novel that bridges racial and generational divides. With a realistic and compassionate look into a twenty-first-century dilemma, multiple award-winning author Kathi Macias introduces readers to a confused and apprehensive young woman, Mazie Hartford. Facing major decisions about the love of her life and her future, she must also wrestle with a nagging question about her family's past. She finds the answer to her questions in a most unexpected way—her great-grandmother's Moses quilt. As her great-grandmother begins to explain how each patch represents a story of courage and freedom, Mazie must decide if she has the courage and freedom to overcome her own personal fears and prejudices.

COVER: Beautiful. It's definitely lovelier up close than this picture gives it credit for. The picture of Harriet Tubman alongside the young woman that represents Mazie is a personal touch, while the miniature quilt adds a colorful contrast.

FIRST CHAPTER: As this chapter opens, Mazie Hartford recalls the time she visited her great-grandmother in Prattville, Alabama for the summer. Now living with her great-grandmother and mother in California, she is contemplating the proposal of her boyfriend, Edward Clayton. Her great-grandmother, Mimi, is wondering how her life has come to this: living in a strange place, eating flavorless food, and tied to a wheelchair.

KEEP READING: As a history lover, I knew I would be attracted to this new series. My daughter recently put together a poster and oral report on Harriet Tubman for school, so the history of this American hero is fresh in my mind. While the reader doesn't get into this aspect in the first chapter, the scene is being set for the story to unfold. Told from Mazie's and Mimi's points of view, we find a conflicted young woman who is struggling over a marriage proposal and an infirm elderly woman forced to live out however many days God has given her on this earth in a place so different than her beloved home in the south. Right away, Macias gets you caring about the characters you will traveling with over the next 200+ pages. She makes clear their personalities and their struggles. By dropping you right into the conflict, this chapter encourages the reader to continue. I can't wait to see how Tubman fits into this whole picture and how the story evolves.



Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: New Hope Publishers (January 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1596693584
ISBN-13: 978-1596693586

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. The author paid me to promote her book through a virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book. This fee did not include a review. This review contains my honest opinions, for which I have not been compensated in any way.