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The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club (Jo Mackenzie #1)
by
Gil McNeil
"Smart novels about starting over don't get any better than this sweet treat."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Funny and sparkling--a profoundly moving study of motherhood and true love."
--Ruth Rendell
For every woman who has ever dreamed of starting over, or being a better mother, or just knitting a really nice scarf . . .
Jo Mackenzie needs a fresh start. Newly widowed...more
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Funny and sparkling--a profoundly moving study of motherhood and true love."
--Ruth Rendell
For every woman who has ever dreamed of starting over, or being a better mother, or just knitting a really nice scarf . . .
Jo Mackenzie needs a fresh start. Newly widowed...more
Paperback, 404 pages
Published
December 22nd 2009
by Voice
(first published 2007)
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It was ok. Some of the reviews called it profound, but I wouldn't go that far. In spite of the subject matter I didn't find that it had much emotional depth... It was an easy read, which is what I was looking for. The brief jaunt to Venice at Christmastime renewed my desire/intention to visit Venice.
I stumbled upon this book purely by accident, and was very pleasantly surprised. Much of the knitting fiction I've read has felt a bit forced, as if the authors were struggling to specifically write fiction about knitting. Gil McNeil manages to make knitting an integral and interesting part of Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club. I can picture the lovely yarn colors & garments she describes. She manages to make the mess & emotions of everyday life funny and interesting, while por...more
This book was funny in that warm, defeated, revenge-of-the-doormat English way and I loved it. The main character would make a great pal. However I frequently wanted to kick her and tell her to stand up for herself: against the local snob (who CARES what a b**** like that thinks or wants), against her terribly-behaved children (tell them NO occasionally, before it's too late), against the memory of her worthless husband, and her incredibly self-centred family members. And she needs to tone down...more
once I opened the book, I couldn't put it down! Which means, I was up much too late last night reading LOL! The book is set in England - which I admit threw me off a few times because, well a few words are not known to me! But I quickly got over that - and even at one point told my kids I was quite knackered earlier today (that means tired!). Anyway, Jo MacKenzie is a stay-at-home mom of 2 boys (who quite wear her out which I completely understand) and married to a news reporter who is often awa...more
Jul 18, 2012
Lydia Laceby
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
contemporary-women-s-fiction
Originally Reviewed at Novel Escapes
picked this novel up randomly at the book store when it didn’t have the other books on my list in stock. It appealed to me because I started knitting last year so thought I would check it out and I was more than pleasantly surprised.
Even though the subject matter could be considered slightly depressing - Jo’s husband tells her he’s had an affair and is leaving her, but is then suddenly killed in a car accident - Gil McNeil does a great job at keeping it light...more
picked this novel up randomly at the book store when it didn’t have the other books on my list in stock. It appealed to me because I started knitting last year so thought I would check it out and I was more than pleasantly surprised.
Even though the subject matter could be considered slightly depressing - Jo’s husband tells her he’s had an affair and is leaving her, but is then suddenly killed in a car accident - Gil McNeil does a great job at keeping it light...more
I loved this book, and not just because I'm a knitter. Although that probably helped a little :-)
The knitting group that Jo starts meeting up with was awesome. I felt the camaraderie between the women, even though they were all so different. Much like the knitting group that I used to meet with every week. These women were there for each other no matter what, and were always willing to lend an ear and a hand. They added a bit of drama and quite a bit of comic relief to the story.
I also liked J...more
The knitting group that Jo starts meeting up with was awesome. I felt the camaraderie between the women, even though they were all so different. Much like the knitting group that I used to meet with every week. These women were there for each other no matter what, and were always willing to lend an ear and a hand. They added a bit of drama and quite a bit of comic relief to the story.
I also liked J...more
Jo's husband Nick announces he wants a divorce. Jo is stunned, hurt, and angry- until Nick dies in a car accident right afterward. Having been a stay-at-home-mom to their two boys, Jack and Archie, for several years, it's back to work with Jo. She moves the two boys from London to a small town near the English seaside and takes over her grandmother's knitting shop. Longtime employee Elsie isn't happy with all the changes she's making, but Jo's got enough on her plate right now without worrying a...more
There have been a number of books that deal with knitting groups, but this one is an interesting twist. Jo Mackenzie’s husband has just been killed in a car crash…just after he has informed his wife that he has a mistress whom he has been living part time and he has taken a second mortgage on their house to finance their life. He will be leaving her immediately…and then he is killed. Her emotions are in limbo and her life has been turned upside down. There is only one solution on the horizon. Sh...more
This is the first book in McNeil's series, and I read it only because I stumbled upon the second book in the series (Needles and Pearls) in a bookstore last month.
At the beginning of the book, we find out the Jo and her two sons are moving. Why? Because she's suddenly become a widow and has decided to move to take over her grandmother's wool shop. How did she become a widow? Because the very night that her husband told her he had been cheating on her for a year, he drove off, crashed into a tree...more
At the beginning of the book, we find out the Jo and her two sons are moving. Why? Because she's suddenly become a widow and has decided to move to take over her grandmother's wool shop. How did she become a widow? Because the very night that her husband told her he had been cheating on her for a year, he drove off, crashed into a tree...more
I usually don't like the kind of books where a group of women come together over some common interest (books, knitting, or something) and find strength and courage, becoming better people, etc, etc. I was really concerned that this would be one of those books, but it actually wasn't. There's a genre of literature, too, which has become kind of called "knitting fiction" where a women in her 30s-40's has a profound life-changing event, and as she begins to find her way, ends up in a knitting group...more
There’s a very set formula for Knitting Fiction, and this one doesn’t deviate from it much, at least in its premise. Take one woman in her 30s or 40s, add something tragic (e.g., deadly disease, widowhood, etc.), along with one wool shop full of delightful customers (excepting the sulking teenager) and presto! You’ve got a warm and cozy novel full of hugging and learning faster than you can turn a heel.
Where The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club does depart from the typical model is in...more
Where The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club does depart from the typical model is in...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Oct 31, 2009
Nikki
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
not-so-trashy-trashy-novels
Since I don't knit, I'd been avoiding the numerous knitting-group novels which seem to have supplanted book-club-themed books in the domestic fiction area. But the colorful cover (not the one shown) of the large-print edition led me to pick it off the shelf, and after sampling a few pages I was hooked. The English setting probably helped, as I'm a big fan of Erica James and Katie fforde, whose books have some similarities to this one.
Jo Mackenzie-Jones, formerly an editor for BBC News and now a...more
Jo Mackenzie-Jones, formerly an editor for BBC News and now a...more
Jo McKenzie's husband is killed in a car crash, but she's not sure whether or not she should grieve, as he had told her he was leaving her just before he drove away. Meanwhile, she has two young sons to raise, and no real source of income.
Then her grandmother decides to retire, and asks Jo to take over her yarn shop, in the seaside town where Jo grew up. Eager to make a new start, Jo and the boys relocate to Broadgate Bay, where Jo sets about modernizing her granmother's musty yarn shop.
While sh...more
Then her grandmother decides to retire, and asks Jo to take over her yarn shop, in the seaside town where Jo grew up. Eager to make a new start, Jo and the boys relocate to Broadgate Bay, where Jo sets about modernizing her granmother's musty yarn shop.
While sh...more
I would never recommend this book in a million years, but I loved it the way I sometimes love other things that are bad for me ... like fries and Costco muffins.
The plot is perfectly paced, and I love the main character. Jo is a decent mom who's trying her best and doing a pretty fine job of it all. She's forgiving and generous, and knows how to pick her battles. We'd be friends in real life.
This book made me all itchy to learn to knit. I taught a friend how to crochet and now she's WAY better a...more
The plot is perfectly paced, and I love the main character. Jo is a decent mom who's trying her best and doing a pretty fine job of it all. She's forgiving and generous, and knows how to pick her battles. We'd be friends in real life.
This book made me all itchy to learn to knit. I taught a friend how to crochet and now she's WAY better a...more
Woman faces devastating life event and flees city to small town populated with wacky characters, where she sets up a fulfilling business and learns valuable life lessons! And also befriends a movie star! And has a fling with a handsome jet setting man! And deals with her issues with her mother! Stop me if you've heard this one before. Have you stopped me yet? Because you've totally heard this one before. Only in this one the woman, the wacky characters, the movie star, and the handsome jet setti...more
I gave this book four stars in large part because I'm at a point in my life where I identified really well with the main character. Jo is a mother of two, recently widowed, and now dependent on family and a change of circumstance to help her regain balance in her life. She takes over the family yarn shop, which would be a dream come true for me if we had one, so there's that, too.
I haven't read much in this genre of fiction. I'm not even really sure what the genre is accurately called. I specifi...more
I haven't read much in this genre of fiction. I'm not even really sure what the genre is accurately called. I specifi...more
Sweet and fun, this book kept me laughing the whole time. Set in England, I really enjoyed the British terms throughout the book like people always "tutting" and exclaiming "bugger". So fun! The story starts off with Jo packing up herself and two boys for a move from London to a small seaside town where she will be taking over her Gran's wool shop. Her back-story is that her husband, Nick, had come home from assignment to tell her that he has just landed a new position and has been having an aff...more
In the flurry of knitting group-related novels recently, I'd have to say this one was my favorite. The writing got progressively wittier until I was laughing and reading bits out loud to my husband at the end. The author uses capitalized words when expressing a character Displeasure, which as I read I found funnier and funnier. The protagonist kept her chin up and her sarcasm dialed up to nine.
I'd say take a pass on the The Friday Night Knitting Club and read this instead. Just remember to put...more
I'd say take a pass on the The Friday Night Knitting Club and read this instead. Just remember to put...more
Jo Mackenzie (sounds a bit like "Gil McNeil", doesn't it?) is not having an easy time. Shortly after foreign correspondent husband Nick tells her that he is leaving her, he crashes his car into a tree, leaving her with a surprise second mortgage, no money, and two small boys. With limited options, Jo moves her family to a small seaside town and takes over her Gran's near-moribund knit shop. After her isolated life in London, life in a small town - replete with loony aristocrats, bossy old ladies...more
A nice, easy read about a new widowed 30 something trying to cope with two school aged boys and a new business.
The novel has a definite sense of place and time which would be appealing to those familiar with the English seaside town. Anglophiles would probably enjoy it.
I did find two aspects of the books to be irritating.
First, the main character is always moaning about being chubby but every second page has her eating cakes, pastries, donuts or cookies and drinking vast amounts of tea. It is o...more
The novel has a definite sense of place and time which would be appealing to those familiar with the English seaside town. Anglophiles would probably enjoy it.
I did find two aspects of the books to be irritating.
First, the main character is always moaning about being chubby but every second page has her eating cakes, pastries, donuts or cookies and drinking vast amounts of tea. It is o...more
It was well-written enough but didn't seem to have a purpose. Jo is recovering from the death of her husband, who was about to leave her for another woman (why are they always French?), and is asked to run her grandmother's yarn shop in a small seaside town. Personally, this is my idea of nirvana- yarn shop, English seaside town, you actually know your neighbors, lots of tea. I didn't see the point of the plot. Everything seemed nonchalant. There wasn't even a confrontation with the French mistr...more
The writing style in this book is absurd , A product of a very weak mind! The writer switches from First person singular (i) - To First person plural ( we ) - Then to Second person singular (you) - And then to second person plural. And if that is not bad enough, the writer then switches to Third person masculine singular - (He)
Third person feminine singular - (she)
Third person neutral singular - (It)
Third person plural / third person gender-neutral singular -(they)
Think about this,If your sit...more
Third person feminine singular - (she)
Third person neutral singular - (It)
Third person plural / third person gender-neutral singular -(they)
Think about this,If your sit...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I picked this book up from a stack of books at my mother-in-laws. I was interested because I hadn't read any books from the new, small genre of knitting club stories/books. My M-I-L hadn't read it yet and thus couldn't warn me that the book had a very slow moving plot that didn't really resolve any of the issues because the book is (heaven forbid) part of a series, was 3x's longer than it needed to be (it would of only been 2x's as long as needed if McNeil hadn't dropped the f-bomb among other c...more
I have recently been trying to get into knit-lit, and this is my third foray into the genre. I liked this one much better than my first 2 tries, because it isn't sappy and filled with scripture, as I have found the others to be. I also disagree with the reviewers who claim there is no knitting in this book, as there is much more about the yarn and knitting in this book than in either of the others I have tried. No, the plot doesn't hinge on knitting - the story is about the characters. There is...more
Basically, this is chick lit. An easy read after heavy reading. I related with Jo, the main character, in that she is dealing with the frustration, anxiety, exhaustion of motherhood despite the pure joy that comes with it. Her career goals are also very intriguing in that she quit the job she was groomed for in college and worked before she had children and instead opted to make her hobby (knitting) her work. She nurtures a small business (a wool shop) to financially provide for her family. I lo...more
First, I loved this book because it was a farewell gift from one of my bookclubs complete with written messages from my friends. *sniff*
Second, I found it an easy read that held my attention which most books can't do right now since I'm in a crazy chaotic moving between states place in my life and I'm stressed beyond belief.
Third, I loved the British humor but hated the profanity and constant talk of "shagging". On the plus side most of the profanity was the British kind which is somehow less...more
Second, I found it an easy read that held my attention which most books can't do right now since I'm in a crazy chaotic moving between states place in my life and I'm stressed beyond belief.
Third, I loved the British humor but hated the profanity and constant talk of "shagging". On the plus side most of the profanity was the British kind which is somehow less...more
What drove me nuts about this book is that the author likes to capitalize words all the time because when you do that it makes what you're saying so much more important. Well, not really. McNeil also writes with a stream of consciousness approach. One sentence oftentimes takes up a whole paragrah. The ending was also unsatisfying. Basically, the book begins with the death of Jo's husband and ends about a year later with nothing really insightful happening inbetween. The story could have kept goi...more
Another book, British this time, about a knitting shop and the community that grows up around it. Unlike some American knit-shop authors, Gil McNeil does not center her story around solving a mystery (two-fer genre writing) or knitting patterns and how they serve as self-help triggers, but tells the story of a recently-widowed London woman who packs up her children and moves to a coastal town to take over the yarn store-- "wool shop" in England--her grandmother has been running. McNeil has a wry...more
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Gil McNeil is the author of the bestselling The Only Boy for Me, Stand By Your Man, In The Wee Small Hours and most recently Divas Don’t Knit. The Only Boy For Me has been made into a major ITV prime-time drama starring Helen Baxendale and was broadcast in 2007. Gil McNeil has edited five collections of stories with Sarah Brown, and is Director of the charity PiggyBankKids, which supports projects...more
More about Gil McNeil...
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“It's much easier than I thought it would be."
Most things in knitting are, really.”
—
8 people liked it
Most things in knitting are, really.”
“I hate Earl Grey with a passion. It's like drinking stale perfume...”
—
7 people liked it
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May 17, 2012 10:03am
Jul 22, 2012 11:18am