Author: Kate Solly
Publisher: Affirm Press
Genre: Modern & Contemporary Fiction, General Fiction
Year of release: 2022
Release Date 27th December 2022
Rating 🌟🌟🌟
Synopsis
A heart-warming story of friendship in an imperfect world, this is binge-worthy, feel-good fiction at its best.
Meredith established the Copeton Crochet Collective (no knitters please) because it would be like having friends, only with her in charge, and because there would be no men. It comes as a nasty shock, then, when Luke, the handsome grandson of no-nonsense Edith, decides to stay and learn to crochet.
Claire has five children, which is why people sometimes look at her with mild concern. She longs for an Insta-perfect life like her online hero, Siobhan, but she’s drowning in domestic failure. She joins the Copeton craft group in the hope of making some non-virtual friends.
Yasmin is Muslim and proud. But sometimes it would be great if people stopped asking her about her hijab and instead asked who she thought was going to win MasterChef. Pregnant with her first child, she should be elated. So why can’t she stop panicking? Perhaps crocheting a set of baby clothes can get her in the right headspace.
With plans for a new mosque and the resettlement of refugees in the retirement village, Copeton becomes a breeding ground for Islamophobia. Together with the other group members, this small band of fibre-arts enthusiasts battle racism and bigotry with colour and creativity, but will the fragile threads of community be enough to bind them when more than one member has something to hide?
Review
Meredith James decides to start a crochet group, this way she can say she has friends as well as having her need to be in change met, men are not to be involved in the Copeton Crochet Collective. Meredith’s plan is taking shape she finds herself getting excited about her plan; but when fellow member Edith’s handsome grandson Luke joins the group paying a fee and shows a keen interest in learning to crochet Meredith realises, she can’t just exclude him from joining the group. Meredith has another problem, teenager Harper a late arrival with colourful language and tattoos. who doesn’t take well to Meredith having the right to run everything.
Claire’s a mother of five and looks forward to Tuesday nights more so than any other night of the week, her husband comes home early, it’s the one night of the week she can put the fact she is a domestic failure in the back of her mind for a little while as Claire has an opportunity at long last to make non- virtual friends, she has hope.
Yazmin Malak’s mum taught Yazmin to crochet and for this, Yazmin is grateful as it helps her to keep the ever-increasing anxiety, she’s feeling about becoming a mother for the first time at bay, her husband may be a Dr but he’s new at parenting too. Yazmin knows there’s only one person she wants to give her advice perhaps after joining the group and once she has crocheted a set of baby clothes the elation feeling she has heard so much about will come and banish the panicked feeling she’s been having more often than not? If only people would stop asking her about her Hijab.
Every so often I come across a Modern & Contemporary Fiction novel that I must read; I was drawn to a character-based book about crochet and knitting coming from a family of crochet and knitters I understand the passion that surrounds both activities.
Author Kate Solly has done a spectacular job in bringing three-dimensional characters to life each of their current situations was believable; I found myself taking a keen interest in their lives as individuals not just as a group. Kate has gone to great lengths to ensure her characters are full to bursting with humour and heart, this is one of the main reasons I return to this genre more so in recent months.
The novel explores topics such as Friendship, Grief, Motherhood, Mental Health, Discrimination Refugees, and Islamophobia are touched on in a caring and respectful manner.
If your anything like me when it comes to reading one of the first elements, you notice about the story is just how fast the plot moves Tuesday Evenings with the Copeton Craft Resistance is most certainly a book you won’t want to put down because it flows effortlessly from start to finish making it a joy to read.
Are you a fan of the Modern & Contemporary genre or perhaps you’re a fan of Author’s Meg Bignell, Michelle Upton, Rachael John’s novels? then Kate Solly will be a welcome addition to your bookshelf and I eagerly await Kate Solly’s next book.
I highly recommend Tuesday Evenings with the Copeton Craft Resistance to a mature audience makes for a great audiobook.