Take some time out from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and lose yourself in Helen Rolfe’s Christmas at the Village Sewing Shop.

Loretta’s little sewing shop in the village of Butterbury is her pride and joy – after her three beautiful daughters, of course! Some of Loretta’s fondest memories are of sitting with Daisy, Ginny and Fern at the shop stitching together pieces of fabric and talking about their hopes and dreams and their plans for the future. Christmas is fast approaching, however, it looks like there isn’t much Yuletide cheer to go around as the family is falling apart at its seams!

Everything seems to be going wrong in Fern’s life and she feels like she’s failing as a mother and a wife, Ginny’s job as a midwife is no longer fulfilling and former wild child Daisy is determined to prove that she’s changed since her hair-raising younger days. Then there’s Loretta who seems to be hiding something from her girls. With the four of them coming together to create a new festive quilt, old wounds finally begin to heal. But when Loretta drops a bombshell, will the three sisters manage to mend the quilt and the family in time for Christmas day? Or has the fabric of their family been ripped and destroyed beyond all recognition?

A lovely read that will make you laugh and cry, Helen Rolfe’s Christmas at the Village Sewing Shop is a heart-warming charmer about love, family and the ties that bind you are going to thoroughly enjoy. Written with wisdom, warmth and pathos, Christmas at the Village Shop is absolutely magical and will appeal to fans of Sarah Morgan and Cathy Bramley.

This is a slow-burning log fire of a Christmas read.

The slow pace allows the writer to create complex and relatable characters as the Chamberlain sisters come together for Christmas.

Mum, Loretta decides that this year she is going to bring her three very different adult daughters home for an extended Christmas. It definitely feels like she is hiding something from them from the This allows Daisy, Ginny and Fern to put aside their differences and come together to rekindle their sisterly bonds, reminisce about their childhoods and grieve for the losses in their lives – there is also some blossoming romance.

Fern is always striving for perfection, but she is becoming overwhelmed and feels that things are falling apart. Traveller Ginny is returning home to face a lost love and Daisy has stayed to take over the family sewing shop but has other talents too. Very different women make for some interesting family dynamics, especially with the heightened emotions of the Christmas holidays.

I really liked how the characters developed and their individual stories were part of the family narrative.

The sewing shop itself is central to the story. If you are crafty this little shop sounds like a slice of heaven. There is a real sense of community in the book that adds to the Christmas spirit.

This is a really lovely festive read that really embodies the family Christmas spirit. I really enjoyed it and it has definitely helped get me in the mood for the holidays.

This is one of those feelgood, festive reads which I like to read in the weeks before Christmas. You have the anticipation of the season but also a look at the pressures which families feel as the day draws near. Each of the sisters has their own issues and reasons for the distance which seems to have grown between them all. It is clear that their mother has a reason for wanting them all together and that she is keeping it secret from them. When it emerged, it was quite a surprise. 

You certainly see the links between the generations, both within the families and community. The pull of family responsibility is strong. As each of the sisters come to terms with what they want for their futures, the storyline fits in with what we learn of their characters. There is an undercurrent of romance for the sisters but the most important part of the story centres around family relationships. 

In short: family, community, feelgood

Christmas at the Village Sewing Shop is the perfect book to snuggle up with in front of the fire and lose yourself in. Loretta wants to bring her three girls back together again for Christmas and she wants them to make another quilt together.
This reminded me of what Christmas is really about and you get a sense of bringing everyone together. I loved the quilt making in the sewing shop and it was great getting to know the sisters individually as they have three very different personalities. A story about the true meaning of family with lots of festive fun along the way and a little romance. I smiled all the way through reading this as it truly is a magnificent book.

Set in a quaint little village, this is a story that has alternating chapters between mum, Loretta, and her three daughters, Daisy, Ginny and Fern. All the three daughters are different in character and since their dad’s death, they have not been as close. Christmas is a time when they all get together to spend it as a family. You get a sense of Christmas throughout the novel which I especially loved and it had me starting to feel festive.

Loretta and Daisy run the family shop which sells everything to do with sewing that is possible. It sounded like an Aladdin’s cave for anyone who is quite arty and likes to knit and sew. I like that the central hub of the village felt like it was the shop as it’s not often the case and was lovely to have it be somewhere different. Throughout the story, we get to know this family better and what their hopes and dreams are. If anything, it is a reminder that at times it is good to take a step back and re-evaluate where you are in life.

The making of the festive quilt was something I especially enjoyed. I loved how creating something brings people together. At times I felt like Loretta, filled with love for these women who all stole a piece of my heart. Along with the sense of family, there are a couple of love interests just to get the readers heart fluttering with the promise of romance. It was everything I would have hoped for from this genre of novel.

Christmas at the Village Sewing Shop is a heart-warming and wonderful read set at the festive time of the year. It’s definitely the perfect read to snuggle up on the sofa with and lose yourself into. For me it shows the true meaning of family and whilst all families hit some bumps along the way, it’s the strong bond that ties everyone altogether and the being there for each other that made this an uplifting read that left me with a smile on my face and bursting with joy!