The Sewing Machine by Natalie Fergie, a book review

I recently read 25 Library Terrace by Natalie Fergie and I enjoyed it so much that I looked for her older book The Sewing Machine. It was a freed read on Kindle so I dived right in. You can read my full review below, first, here are the book details.

The Sewing Machine

Two families. Three secrets. Millions of stitches.

It is 1911, and Jean is about to join the mass strike at the Singer factory. For her, nothing will be the same again.

Decades later, in Edinburgh, Connie sews coded moments of her life into a notebook, as her mother did before her.

More than 100 years after his grandmother’s sewing machine was made, Fred discovers a treasure trove of documents. His family history is laid out before him in a patchwork of unfamiliar handwriting and colourful seams.

He’ll start unpicking the secrets of four generations, one stitch at a time…

My Review of the Sewing Machine

Like 25 Library Terrace, this story jumps around from character to timeline, but although it seems a little confusing at first it becomes easier towards the end.

The story begins with the apprentice, we know nothing about him, not even his name and it’s easy to forget that this chapter happened. But he finds a letter while working on the old hospital and pops it into a post box when leaving work.

We then visit Jean in in 1911, followed by Connie in 1954 and then Fred in 2016. We follow these three people and their family over the book.

Jean works in the Singer Factory in Clydebank, she is responsible for the final testing of the machines. Her boyfriend Donald Cameron, also worked at the factory. There is a huge walkout over working conditions and they go on strike, Donald is one of the spokespeople for the strike. Jean’s dad is horrified about it all. When they are made to go back to work, Donald is fired and Jean is forbidden to see him by her Dad. It all culminates in Jean and Donald running away together,

Connie lives with her mum Kathleen and has recently lost her father. Kathleen likes to sew and keeps little notebooks of her work which have pieces of fabric stitched in place. She does sewing work for lots of people. Connie gets a job at the hospital sewing uniforms and theatre curtains, as well as mending things.

Then we meet Fred in 2016 who is writing a blog. He’s come to Edinburgh because his Granda died and he’s been left his flat. He’s not sure he wants to keep it but soon settles in. His girlfriend visits but she’s obviously not happy and splits up with him. So poor Fred is jobless and girlfriend less and his mum had gone off on a long holiday.

Each has their own story to tell and we soon find out that Connie is Fred’s Grandmother who died when he was young.

The story is full of characters that you can really enjoy reading about. The story is complex but it’s lovely how it all ‘threads’ together in the end. The connections are not all shocking but mostly intricate. It is a joy to read. I did wonder where the mysterious letter had come from but a quick visit to chapter one reminded me, so it’s not a spoiler but if you read it don’t forget about the apprentice who pops an old letter he finds in the first chapter.

The book is not for anyone who doesn’t enjoy a book that jumps around in timelines and with different families, but if you do you’ll be totally immersed in finding out the full stories of all the characters. I really hope that Natalie Fergie writes some more books like this and 25 Library Street. And this book has made me wish that I’d never got rid of my old Singer sewing machine.