Needles and Pearls (Thorndike Press Large Print Basic) - Hardcover

Gil McNeil lives in Kent, England, with her son, and comes from a long line of champion knitters. (Author's name is pronounced "Jill.")" "1401312802

The sequel to The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club (2009) opens on the one-year anniversary of the death of Nick, Jo Mackenzie’s unfaithful husband and the father of her two boys, Jack and Archie. Jo is forced to endure her in-laws for a trip to Nick’s grave, but otherwise things are looking up: both her grandmother and her best friend are newly engaged, and Jo is still happily working in her grandmother’s yarn shop and running the “Stitch and Bitch” club. There’s even a potential love interest in the picture: Martin, the handsome but awkward son of a woman who works at the yarn shop with Jo. But the budding romance—and Jo’s life overall—is turned on its head when Jo finds out she’s pregnant as a result of a one-night stand with a photographer in Venice. Readers looking for a tightly woven story might be frustrated by the many scenes of Jo’s kids acting up, but overall this is a fun follow-up to McNeil’s first entry. --Kristine Huntley