Divas Don't Knit - Gil McNeil

This book opens up with recently widowed Jo MacKenzie moving to Kent with her two young sons (Jack and Archie) to take over her Gran's knitting shop. She gets to know people quite quickly, so it doesn't take her long to feel like part of the community - this is probably helped by her having the shop and also meeting mums at her sons' school. She begins a knitting group too, and because of the modern slant that this book has given to knitting, it ...
...would start up a knitting group too. Jo begins a close friendship with Grace Harrison - an A list actress - and you think that the friendship seems like a bit of an unlikely one, but as Grace is pregnant they seem to have bonded over children and knitting. What I loved about this book is that although there is a couple of possible romances for Jo, it leaves it to your imagination and doesn't turn into one of these slushy books where everybody lives ... more

This book opens up with recently widowed Jo MacKenzie moving to Kent with her two young sons (Jack and Archie) to take over her Gran's knitting shop. She gets to know people quite quickly, so it doesn't take her long to feel like part of the community - this is probably helped by her having the shop and also meeting mums at her sons' school. She begins a knitting group too, and because of the modern slant that this book has given to knitting, it makes you think that you wish someone in your area would start up a knitting group too. Jo begins a close friendship with Grace Harrison - an A list actress - and you think that the friendship seems like a bit of an unlikely one, but as Grace is pregnant they seem to have bonded over children and knitting. What I loved about this book is that although there is a couple of possible romances for Jo, it leaves it to your imagination and doesn't turn into one of these slushy books where everybody lives happily ever after in romance land. I also loved the humour in it, as well as the honest way Jo comes over in her way of thinking as a mum. There are some great characters in it - a selection of different types of people, and you could really relate to some of the characters and friendships that come out of the story. The story makes you want to feel like part of a community, and I don't think that this is necessarily to do with knitting - I think that knitting is just part of the story that comes through in this book. I got my copy of the book from my local library, so you could try your library for a copy, failing that then you could try ebay or Amazon for cheap copies. It's definately worth a read. 

...less