Knit Two

This is the second book in a series, so I’ll forgive you if you’ve not read the first and skip this review.  That said, if you like crafts and good books, you should read the first book, Friday Night Knitting Club.

**Spoiler alert: If you haven’t read the first, do not read any more!**

So we last saw the ecclectic member of the Friday Night Knitting Club 5 years ago.  Georgia had just died and Dakota, 13 years old, went to live with her new-found father, James.  Catherine divorced her boring (rich) husband and opened up a cute antique store, Anita finally gave in and started dating Marty even though she was starting her 8th decade of life, Darwin just got her PhD, Peri was figuring out her life, and Lucie had a baby!  WOW.

Well, 5 years later, everything is remarkably similar, but it seems that everyone has a little bit of life “ennui”.  Dissatisfaction of sorts.  Even Dakota, a freshman at NYU, has problems.  Peri isn’t sure she wants to continue to run the old knitting shop that Dakota owns but doesn’t want.  James and Catherine can’t seem to admit that Georgia is gone.  Lucie’s career is finally taking off, but 5-year old Ginger is demanding all the attention a single mother can give and then some.  And Darwin is pregnant!  With twins!

Enter a trip to Italy.  Somehow half the club ends up in Italy for the summer looking for themselves and their long-lost loved ones.  The ones who are “left behind” have some finding to do as well and what’s a summer without the knitting club?  Even the non-knitting members knit in this sequel.

What I loved about this book and the first is that each woman is so vastly different from the others, yet they all seem to connect with one another in different and often unexpected ways.  I’m not usually a sap for things like that, but this one gets me.  I read it in just a few days, and I can’t wait to start on the last one!  This is a book that would make a great movie.  I picture a Steel Magnolias type of tear-jerker.  I mean that in the most complimentary way possible.