The sugar camp quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini

In her latest Elm Creek Quilts novel, Jennifer Chiaverini returns to Creek's Crossing, Pennsylvania, in the troubled years leading up to the Civil War, where an extraordinary young heroine passes from innocence to wisdom against the harrowing backdrop of the American struggle over slavery.
A dutiful daughter and niece, Dorothea Granger's dreams of furthering her education are thwarted by the needs of home. A gifted quilter, her hope chest full of quilts is lost in a tragic flood. A superior student, she is promoted from pupil to teacher - only to lose her position to the privileged son of a town benefactor. But the ultimate test of her courage and convictions comes with the death of her stern Uncle Jacob, who inexplicably asks Dorothea to stitch him a quilt with four unusual patterns of his own design. After his life meets a violent end, Dorothea discovers that the quilt contains hidden clues to guide runaway slaves along the Underground Railroad. Emboldened by the revelations about her uncle's bravery, Dorothea resolves to continue his dangerous work. Armed with the Sugar Camp Quilt and its mysterious symbols, she must evade slave catchers and outwit unscrupulous neighbours, embarking upon a heroic journey that allows her to discover her own courage and resourcefulness - and wins her the heart of the best man she has ever known.
Told with Jennifer Chiaverini's trademark historical suspense, THE SUGAR CAMP QUILT blends danger, morality, romance and hope into a novel of antebellum America whose lessons resonate with timeless honesty.