This book involves quilting only tangentially, but is a continuation of some story threads (pun intended) from The Quilter's Homecoming. The book is not always easy to read, as it describes spouse abuse and the unhappy family life it creates, but those episodes are told in flashback and are tolerable even for a reader sensitive to the subject. Chiaverini presents a more complex moral context than in any of her other books, with bad decisions leading to more bad decisions, good decisions being thwarted by previous bad choices, and desperate times calling for morally questionable desperate measures--all exposed and explored in the story without it becoming a philosophical treatise. The book is a satisfying read, more thought-provoking than many others of its genre. One also gains insights into the early diagnosis (or lack thereof) and treatment of celiac disease, the unintended consequences of Prohibition, and the hardships it created for winemaking families in the Sonoma Valley of California. If you like the Elm Creek Quilts series, you'll probably like this book. If you are not familiar with the series, you may enjoy this novel and want to read the series. And if nothing else, you should schedule a holiday in the Wine Country and see what a lovely and interesting place it is now. But read before you read Sonoma Rose.