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Well known in the quilting world for her non fiction, historical books about quilting, Barbara Brackman's book, Divided Hearts: A Civil War Friendship Quilt, does not disappoint. She presents twelve short biographical sketches of women who lived in the mid 1800s. Some are well known women such as Teddy Roosevelts mom and Mary Todd Lincoln. And some are women who are not as well known but nevertheless lived interesting lives. Each biographical sketch is paired with a period quilt square and directions for that quilt square. The book is delightfully illustrated with period photographs and pictures of the various ways to put together the same blocks, creating much different presentations with changes in color and arrangement. Barbara Brackman has written several books, including her encyclopedia of blocks that has been digitized and is part of the Electric Quilt software as an add on called "Block Base+". This book is about autograph quilts from the Civil War era. The author noticed civil war autograph quilts that were signed by northern and southern women alike so she began to research how they were connected. Often southern young women were sent north for finishing school. And it was not uncommon for southern families to spend the hottest part of the summer in the north to avoid diseases carried by insects in the heat of summer. Friendships were formed and romances kindled that grew to marriages and intermingling of northern and southern families. During the war years feelings of closeness didn't just disappear. This book teaches us a lesson that is pertinent to today. Relationships can continue in spite of very fundamental differences in belief systems and political opinions. This book is a quick read and I enjoyed it very much. It combined my interests of genealogy, social history, and quilting. I highly recommend this author and intend to enjoy more of her work. Please click on the links above and enjoy the video that follows.
