Apricots at Midnight: and Other Stories from a Patchwork Quilt

152 Pages·2012·12.59 MB·English

by  Geras Adele

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ISBN0-689-3092IX
One of the joys of visiting Aunt Pinny was
bedtime, because at bedtime, Aunt Pinny
told stoties. And not just any stories, but
marvelous stories from her own childhood.
Long ago, when Aunt Pinny was small,
she hadwanted a garden. But because it was
winter and she was ill, her garden was of a
very special kind. It consisted of many
pieces of colored material, which became a
wonderful patchwork quilt and led to those
bedtime stories.
Everypatch had itsown story to tell. The
red velvet brought back memories of the
fancy dress ball, when Pinny made friends
with a gentle highwayman and ate apricots
at midnight. The patch with the little bro-
cade dragons recalled bizarre Captain
Tramplemousse, the pirate, whose two lit-
tleorphaned companions said theywere the
future monarchs ofBorneo. Most strange of
all was the rose-patterned cloth, a present
from a mysterious ladywho lived in a house
long-since vanished and whose little daugh-
ter never existed at all.
Story after story sprang from those mar-
velous patches, bringing back a forgotten
world of elegant dresses, hansom cabs and
grand, glittering parties. And together they
make a book to relish, story by story, and
to read with delight for the very real thread
that runs through the whole.
811;46

BOOKS BY ADELE GERAS
The Girls in the Velvet Frame
Other Echoes
Apricots at Midnight
APRICOTS AT MIDNIGHT

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ADELE GERAS
APRICOT
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MIDNIGH
and Other Stories
From a Patchwork Quilt
Illustrated
by Doreen Caldwell
ATHEXEUM NEW YORK
1982
for Linda Jennings
cies
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Geras, Adele.
Apricots at midnight.
Summary: An elderly London dressmaker entertains
ayoung relative with memories of the world of heryouth,
evoked by the scraps from elegant dresses that
she has sewn into a patchwork quilt.
[I. London (England)—Fiction. 2. Dressmaking-
—
Fiction. 3. Quilting Fiction] I. Title.
PZ7.G29S54Ap [Fie] 82-1728
ISBX 0-689-3O921-X AACR2
Text copyright 1977 by Adele Gems
Pictures copyright C ]977 by Doreen Caldwell
All rights reserved
Published simultaneously in Canada by
McClelland & Stewart, Ltd.
Printed and bound by Fairfield Graphics, Fairfield, Pennsylvania
First American Edition